Hello and welcome to the RP. Below you'll find various posts each containing different bits of the RP, for example the Class and Race lists, the Dice mechanics etc. as well as a General/Q&A post and an example post. Yes this is filler to hold it all together, no I don't care if this isn't how things are normally done.

So once again welcome to the RP. Be inquisitive, be proper and have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

Virro: (10) Looking through the scrolls in the chest, you find a battered old scroll that, despite its state, absolutely reeks of necromantic power (if such a thing could smell that is). Picking it up, you read it (silently of course, you don't want to accidentally do something with it whilst you're not prepared), and you realise you have stumbled across an artifact long thought a myth by most necromancers. The Scroll of Black Death, is an artifact with a mind of its own, only letting its finder have a certain number of uses of it before it disappears to be found by the next necromantic prodigy. You instinctively know you have 7 uses of this scroll before it leaves your hands forever, an you can use these uses to either: Raise a loyal Zombie Lord from a dead corpse in the same room as you, Deal 1D20 damage to every living thing in a room other than yourself, and heal undead and yourself by the same amount, Or Control every undead creature in the room and keep them under your command indefinitely.

Keegra: (9) You find some bracers that have the same styling as your belt. Sure enough they are Bracers of Monk Training and give you a bonus to fighting unarmed.

Xiv'riit: (11) You find what would look to most like a simple robe, however you are able to see through the illusion and know it is a Robe of the Elements, a rare set of Cleric robes given to exceptional Shardmind Clerics. Praying your Gods won't mind you wearing it, you put it on, and feeling no damnation coming for you, you think they do not mind. Now you are not worried about your Gods, you feel the benefits of the Robe. Besides being padded enough to provide some armour, it also gives you four Blessings that are always effective, Blessings of the Earth gives you the ability to withstand blow you simply could not before, Blessings of the Air gives you acrobatic skills beyond what you have ever learnt, Blessings of the Flame gives your weapons an extra touch of damage in combat, and Blessings of the Water makes you resistant to other Elemental attacks.

Kali: ()

Yeleni: ()

Priya: ()

Bellas: (10) You find a nice composite longbow on one of the weapon racks, whilst your short bow is currently better, it is enchanted whereas this one is not and you feel it would be better once the enchantments are laid upon it. In addition, this longbow feels like it would be better at piercing armour than normal bows. Gained Composite Longbow (+4, Ignores half of targets Armour in combat)

Centorea: (5) You fail to find any armour on the weapon racks unsurprisingly, however you do find a semi-decent Axe, which if not for use in combat could always be used to break down any light obstacles in your way. Gained Axe (+2)

Room 5: There are five male warriors standing a little bit back from the door in a line. The outer two are Lizardmen, whilst the other three are all dwarves The dwarves are clad in plate mail, and wield a shield and an axe each, the two Lizardmen are wearing some kind of Heavy Armour and are wielding Greatswords. Each of the Lizardmen are also holding the collars of a Guard Dog and seem ready to release them at a moments notice. Further back there is a female elf wearing Leather armour, wielding a Longbow with a full quiver of arrows on her back, Next to her is a female Centaur wearing Mail Armour with some Javelins strapped to her back. Finally, almost out of sight is a small Kobold in Light armour with a sling. The room itself is another long rectangle, although this one is thinner than room 4. There do not appear to be any other doors in this room, although a lone painting seems to stand out almost at the far end of the North Wall and two lighter shades of stone are almost opposite each other on the North and South Walls about a third of the way down. The rest of the room looks well used, a temporary smithy/kitchen seems to have been set up alongside some benches and desks with things going on on them and a small sleeping area. Noticing you are not Undead, the Warriors seem to relax slightly, and bid you welcome to, as they call it, "The Last Bastion."

Room 6: The room is relatively small, probably the smallest room you've been in so far, although the contents of the room may make it feel smaller than it actually is. In one of the corners there is a massive amount of weaponry, in another a massive collection of armours, a third has rings, belts and amulets galore, whilst the fourth corner holds a single chest. Directly opposite you is a map that looks different to the ones you have seen previously. The door that lead into this room has mysteriously disappeared, and in front of the now vacant doorway is a small rectangular welcome mat. This must be one of the treasure rooms scattered around the dungeon that you have heard about.

Rudig: () Arms full on new armour you take it back to The Last Bastion to begin Improving and fixing so that it'll fit who it needs to.

Gikur: () With Rudig's arms full of armour you go and search through the weapons in case anything is better than what you, and the rest of The Last Bastion currently have.

Urouk: () You stand guard, looking out of the known entrance to The Last Bastion.

Trijask: () You continue to guard the door to The Last Bastion and watch for enemies to kill.

Gantuxuz: () You stand in room 6 watching out for any traps, and offering a hand to Gikur to help him carry the weapons back.

Guard Dogs: () you wait for Trijask to give you an order and attack.

Renna: () You move over to where Rudig has put the armours down and help him go through them.

Prilanos: () You move back to The Last Bastion and move to help Rudig.

Blearm: () you giggle quietly, the normal people in The Last Bastion ignore you as they always do, you know you're not right in the head, if you were you wouldn't be where you are.

Characters:

Virro: Weapons - Pure Longbow (+8 (5 + 3), +1 Dam against Undead) Quiver(35 Arrows), Armour - , Other - (+1 Cir when guarding a door or doorway), Orc Bodyguard (You control what your Orc Bodyguard does each round), Undead Orc Bodyguard, Necromantic Genius (+2 Cir when trying to raise undead), Necklace of Poison Immunity, Scroll of Black Death (Raise a loyal Zombie Lord from a dead corpse in the same room as you, Deal 1D20 damage to every living thing in a room other than yourself, and heal undead and yourself by the same amount, Or Control every undead creature in the room and keep them under your command indefinitely. 10 uses) Health 26/26

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Undead Bane (+3 Cir When fighting Undead), Rudig's Horn (Can be used twice to summon Rudig and a random number of others from the Last Bastion to help you until the end of the fight, can be used as a free action whilst in a fight), Bracers of Monk Training (+3 Dam when unarmed) Healing Potion (3 uses left), Elemental Resistance Potion (3 uses left), Mystery Potion(3 uses left). Health 26/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Fatal Touch (+6, Lethal Touch, Return Policy), Armour - Robe of The Elements (+1 Arm), Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Known Enemy (+2 Cir when interacting with Zombie Lords), Undead Bane (+2 Cir when fighting Undead), Lethal Touch (Once per room you can activate Lethal Touch to double the attack bonus you gained in the round you activated Lethal Touch and the damage dealt by Fatal Touch in that round, this is done before the dice roll for combat. However you lose 1D6 Health every time you activate Lethal Touch), Return Policy (If the item with this rule is not in your hand, or on your body it will automatically return to your hand (if one is free) or sheath itself to your side (otherwise), Blessings of the Elements (+5 Health, +2 Cir when defending, or doing something Acrobatically, +1D4 Damage, Take 1D6 less damage from elemental attacks) . Bag of Holding (Inside, spiked metal ball) Health 33/33

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

"Alright my friends, I believe that we should finish stocking up and proceed to the next room," He points to the map, specifically Room 7. "I say we proceed to this room, beelining towards the room with the river of acid." He let his finger linger on the map, allowing his Eldritch Presence to store a copy into it's incomprehensible memory.

Bellas, having left the treasure room, nodded along, working on enchanting the new bow.

((Uriel attempts to use his Eldritch Presence to create a copy of the map. Bellas is working on enchanting her bow.))

... before approaching Uriel. He considers the map, then shakes his head. "I believe we should try to explore this dungeon as fully as possible," he says. "However, we have been too slow in our explorations. Perhaps it would be best if we split into at least two teams. One team could advance through Room 2, then through Rooms 9 and 8, while the others pass through Rooms 3, 7, and 10, with the parties meeting up at Room 11. We can review our experiences there and determine if splitting up makes us more effective." He looks around at the other members of the party. "Does this seem acceptable to you?"

Centorea, who is trotting over to the rack of magical items, shrugs. "Doesn't matter to me," she says. Davug glances at Virro, and the Elf nods. He knows what he means. Davug nods back, and then also approaches the magic items. He begins to search for something that will either increase his defense or allow him to defend those around him, while Centorea begins looking for something that will boost her healing abilities.

"No. Splitting up is the worst thing we could do," she said. "We are splitting our combined resources over multiple parties. This can only lead to trouble. From what I've heard we've been okay so far, but one botched cast or lapse in judgement could seriously cripple us." She took a breath. "We should stock up now and keep moving, raiding the rooms we do come across. We can clear the rest of the dungeon after we finish off the dragon."

He glanced at everybody else in the room, then said, "I believe we are capable of handling any particular room on our own, even if there were only three of our number. Furthermore, this dungeon appears to have been established as something between a test and a training regimen. By setting obstacles in our path, I believe the dragon intends for us to become strong enough to challenge him."

As you may have guessed, I'm having to put this on hold for now. I'm currently swamped by work for my masters and I am having trouble keeping up as it is. Hopefully this should calm down over the next few weeks, and I should be able to continue with Dungeon Crawlers after that.

Virro: (9) Looking at the map you notice it is fundamentally different to the other maps you have seen in the other rooms of the dungeon. Passages and even entire rooms are shown on this one where there is naught but empty space on the others. Given what you've seen so far, the orange lines indicate normal doors, purple lines are hidden doors and black lines are the walls. Unfortunately you cannot find a way to remove the map from its frame and you suspect such a thing may be all but impossible. https://s7.postimg.org/ymlalaky3/SWATCOTHA_full_map.png

Evard: ()

Uriel: (5) You search the room, not looking at any specific, but you do find that there are no more traps in the room and that there are no other doors out of the room.

Keegra: (8) Of the 3 potions you pull out, 1 seems to be some kind of healing potion, The second looks like some kind of elemental resistance potion, you can't quite tell without trying some. The third potion is a bit of a mystery and you have no idea what it does. Each potion has enough for 3 doses inside.

Xiv'riit: (10) You are able to pick up and look at 4 scrolls. Each scroll is a single use and essentially casts a spell on the rest of the occupants in the room. You know that generally Scrolls are also more powerful than potions. The first Scroll has a healing spell on it, the second some kind of fear spell on it, the third Has a scroll that will reveal anything hidden in the room you are in and the fourth... Well the fourth looks like a recipe for some really delicious Chicken Broth that a previous adventurer has left in the chest. Perhaps once you get out of here you may try and make it.

Kali: ()

Yeleni: ()

Priya: ()

Bellas: (5) You walk into Room 6 and start to look around. You manage find a decent looking Short Sword(+2), You hold onto it just in case, but it doesn't look any better than your own Swords.

Centorea: (7) You search through the armours and find what looks like a nice set of Heavy Armour. However, as you touch it, an old illusion falls off of it and you see that it is fairly rusty and battered and that your current armour would offer you more protection. You pick it up anyway, just in case.Gained Banded Armour(+1)

Davug: (5) You hurry over to the weapon racks and find yourself a decent looking Handaxe(+2) that should go nicely with your mace. Whilst your looking through the weapons you do glance over at Keegra a couple of times, which is probably why you were slightly distracted.

Shaban: () You wait in the Room 4 for Virro's next orders

Room 5: There are five male warriors standing a little bit back from the door in a line. The outer two are Lizardmen, whilst the other three are all dwarves The dwarves are clad in plate mail, and wield a shield and an axe each, the two Lizardmen are wearing some kind of Heavy Armour and are wielding Greatswords. Each of the Lizardmen are also holding the collars of a Guard Dog and seem ready to release them at a moments notice. Further back there is a female elf wearing Leather armour, wielding a Longbow with a full quiver of arrows on her back, Next to her is a female Centaur wearing Mail Armour with some Javelins strapped to her back. Finally, almost out of sight is a small Kobold in Light armour with a sling. The room itself is another long rectangle, although this one is thinner than room 4. There do not appear to be any other doors in this room, although a lone painting seems to stand out almost at the far end of the North Wall and two lighter shades of stone are almost opposite each other on the North and South Walls about a third of the way down. The rest of the room looks well used, a temporary smithy/kitchen seems to have been set up alongside some benches and desks with things going on on them and a small sleeping area. Noticing you are not Undead, the Warriors seem to relax slightly, and bid you welcome to, as they call it, "The Last Bastion."

Room 6: The room is relatively small, probably the smallest room you've been in so far, although the contents of the room may make it feel smaller than it actually is. In one of the corners there is a massive amount of weaponry, in another a massive collection of armours, a third has rings, belts and amulets galore, whilst the fourth corner holds a single chest. Directly opposite you is a map that looks different to the ones you have seen previously. The door that lead into this room has mysteriously disappeared, and in front of the now vacant doorway is a small rectangular welcome mat. This must be one of the treasure rooms scattered around the dungeon that you have heard about.

Rudig: () Arms full on new armour you take it back to The Last Bastion to begin Improving and fixing so that it'll fit who it needs to.

Gikur: () With Rudig's arms full of armour you go and search through the weapons in case anything is better than what you, and the rest of The Last Bastion currently have.

Urouk: () You stand guard, looking out of the known entrance to The Last Bastion.

Trijask: () You continue to guard the door to The Last Bastion and watch for enemies to kill.

Gantuxuz: () You stand in room 6 watching out for any traps, and offering a hand to Gikur to help him carry the weapons back.

Guard Dogs: () you wait for Trijask to give you an order and attack.

Renna: () You move over to where Rudig has put the armours down and help him go through them.

Prilanos: () You move back to The Last Bastion and move to help Rudig.

Blearm: () you giggle quietly, the normal people in The Last Bastion ignore you as they always do, you know you're not right in the head, if you were you wouldn't be where you are.

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Undead Bane (+3 Cir When fighting Undead), Rudig's Horn (Can be used twice to summon Rudig and a random number of others from the Last Bastion to help you until the end of the fight, can be used as a free action whilst in a fight), Healing Potion (3 uses left), Elemental Resistance Potion (3 uses left), Mystery Potion(3 uses left). Health 26/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Fatal Touch (+6, Lethal Touch, Return Policy), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Known Enemy (+2 Cir when interacting with Zombie Lords), Undead Bane (+2 Cir when fighting Undead), Lethal Touch (Once per room you can activate Lethal Touch to double the attack bonus you gained in the round you activated Lethal Touch and the damage dealt by Fatal Touch in that round, this is done before the dice roll for combat. However you lose 1D6 Health every time you activate Lethal Touch), Return Policy (If the item with this rule is not in your hand, or on your body it will automatically return to your hand (if one is free) or sheath itself to your side (otherwise). Bag of Holding (Inside, spiked metal ball) Health 28/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

She thought about digging for a new one, then realized that would hold the current round up too long. "Hey, Orc-"

"His name is Davug," Virro interrupted distractedly.

"Davug, then, switch with me. You check armor, I'm gonna loot a weapon." She walked over to the weapons rack and began doing exactly as she had said she would. Davug glared at her, but did what she had suggested. At that moment, he sorely wished he could have done something else, but it was, admittedly, far more practical to go looking for armor than anything else. Virro, who had been looking at the map, made sure to memorize what he had seen. He turned to the chest, and tried to see if there were any more scrolls or potions in the chest that he might take, particularly necromantic ones or ones that might help him gain some control of his magic in those instances where it flared too powerfully for him to control.

Virro: (5) You look through the amulets you find one with a skull on it. Hoping that it'll help your necromantic expertise you put it on. Unfortunately for you the enchanter of this particular item didn't thin of the skull when they put the enchantment on it, instead this amulet protects you from any poisons you may ingest, or the effects of any poisonous weapons. Gained Necklace of Poison Immunity.

Evard: ()

Uriel: (8) You pick up an ordinary looking ring that feels special to you in some way. Putting it on you feel your ski hardening and realize that this ring is a Ring of Hardened Skin, a blessing to Sluggers everywhere, as it makes your skin harder, allowing you to not only do more damage when you punch someone but also to protect yourself when attacked. Gained Ring of Hardened Skin (+2 Armour)

Keegra: (7) You attack the Chest's lid, not caring about whatever Xiv'riit has to say at the moment.

Combat!: Keegra (16 + 5 Dam = 21) vs Chest (13 + 5 = 18) With your first attack you rattle the chest lid, it looks like it could break from a couple more of your attacks. Second Attack Keegra (9 + 5 Dam = 14) vs Chest (13 + 5 = 18) Your second attack does nothing against the chest lid, obviously hitting one of the reinforced parts of it. Third Attack Keegra (19 + 5 Dam = 24) vs Chest (13 + 5 = 18) With your third attack you focus on where you hit with your first attack and are able to smash a small hole through the lid of the chest which you are then able to use to rip the rest of the lid off of the chest. Inside you find a large collection of bottled potions and what look like magical scrolls. You are immediately thankful that you didn't smash the chest so hard that you could of broken any of the bottles, or else the result could have been... volatile to say the least.

Xiv'riit: (10 - 3 Inj = 7) Whilst too late to save the chest lid from Keegra's rage, you do see a small bag some of the scrolls were sitting in, taking it you carefully put the scrolls back into the chest, and then pick up the metal ball that had previously hit you. Putting the bag on your belt, and the ball in your new bag you find out that, the bag is enchanted in such a way that whilst the volume of the bag remains the same ((about the size of your standard supermarket carrier bag)) not only do you not feel the weight of the items in the bag, it also doesn't move around unless you specifically want it to, meaning t won't get in your way in combat. You have gained a Bag of Holding.

Kali: ()

Yeleni: ()

Priya: ()

Bellas: (7) You successfully enchant your bow.

Centorea: (11) Clip-clopping through the rooms you find Xiv'riit. Seeing that is concussed, you decide to use your clerical powers on him. Unaware of his previous attempts with this kind of healing magic, you let loose a pulse of healing energy that flows through both Room 6 and Room 5, healing all those withing those Rooms by 4 Health ((Even if that'd take them above max)) as well as healing all injuries.

Davug: (4) You walk into Room 6 and then immediately forget what you were planning on doing once you see the sheer amount of treasure in here.

Shaban: () You wait in the Room 4 for Virro's next orders

Room 5: There are five male warriors standing a little bit back from the door in a line. The outer two are Lizardmen, whilst the other three are all dwarves The dwarves are clad in plate mail, and wield a shield and an axe each, the two Lizardmen are wearing some kind of Heavy Armour and are wielding Greatswords. Each of the Lizardmen are also holding the collars of a Guard Dog and seem ready to release them at a moments notice. Further back there is a female elf wearing Leather armour, wielding a Longbow with a full quiver of arrows on her back, Next to her is a female Centaur wearing Mail Armour with some Javelins strapped to her back. Finally, almost out of sight is a small Kobold in Light armour with a sling. The room itself is another long rectangle, although this one is thinner than room 4. There do not appear to be any other doors in this room, although a lone painting seems to stand out almost at the far end of the North Wall and two lighter shades of stone are almost opposite each other on the North and South Walls about a third of the way down. The rest of the room looks well used, a temporary smithy/kitchen seems to have been set up alongside some benches and desks with things going on on them and a small sleeping area. Noticing you are not Undead, the Warriors seem to relax slightly, and bid you welcome to, as they call it, "The Last Bastion."

Room 6: The room is relatively small, probably the smallest room you've been in so far, although the contents of the room may make it feel smaller than it actually is. In one of the corners there is a massive amount of weaponry, in another a massive collection of armours, a third has rings, belts and amulets galore, whilst the fourth corner holds a single chest. Directly opposite you is a map that looks different to the ones you have seen previously. The door that lead into this room has mysteriously disappeared, and in front of the now vacant doorway is a small rectangular welcome mat. This must be one of the treasure rooms scattered around the dungeon that you have heard about.

Rudig: () Arms full on new armour you take it back to The Last Bastion to begin Improving and fixing so that it'll fit who it needs to.

Gikur: () With Rudig's arms full of armour you go and search through the weapons in case anything is better than what you, and the rest of The Last Bastion currently have.

Urouk: () You stand guard, looking out of the known entrance to The Last Bastion.

Trijask: () You continue to guard the door to The Last Bastion and watch for enemies to kill.

Gantuxuz: () You stand in room 6 watching out for any traps, and offering a hand to Gikur to help him carry the weapons back.

Guard Dogs: () you wait for Trijask to give you an order and attack.

Renna: () You move over to where Rudig has put the armours down and help him go through them.

Prilanos: () Feeling another burst of healing magic, you go through to Room 6 to ask the two clerics in there how they did it.

Blearm: () you giggle quietly, the normal people in The Last Bastion ignore you as they always do, you know you're not right in the head, if you were you wouldn't be where you are.

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Undead Bane (+3 Cir When fighting Undead), Rudig's Horn (Can be used twice to summon Rudig and a random number of others from the Last Bastion to help you until the end of the fight, can be used as a free action whilst in a fight), Health 26/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Fatal Touch (+6, Lethal Touch, Return Policy), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Known Enemy (+2 Cir when interacting with Zombie Lords), Undead Bane (+2 Cir when fighting Undead), Lethal Touch (Once per room you can activate Lethal Touch to double the attack bonus you gained in the round you activated Lethal Touch and the damage dealt by Fatal Touch in that round, this is done before the dice roll for combat. However you lose 1D6 Health every time you activate Lethal Touch), Return Policy (If the item with this rule is not in your hand, or on your body it will automatically return to your hand (if one is free) or sheath itself to your side (otherwise). Bag of Holding (Inside, spiked metal ball) Health 28/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

He wondered what the scrolls entailed, if they described new spells or the history of this place. He wondered if they were handwritten or not--possibly field notes from a previous expedition that might prove useful for their own purposes.

She started picking through it, trying to find something good. Davug shook off his stupor and reddened a little. He had very much not intended to just stand there and stare, and hurriedly walked over to the weapons rack to try and find another one-handed weapon to go with his mace. Virro, meanwhile, decided that the amulet should do well enough while Centorea and Davug looked for other equipment, and so decided to investigate the map.

Finding the bolt is sufficiently Not-Valentines-Day-Themed, she eases the string back into it's starting position. She then walks over to the treasure room, from where she intends to find a sufficiently better bow/set of short swords.

Virro: (7 + 2Cir = 9) Talking to Renna it appears that the bow is more than sufficient. Shutting up as Renna works her magic on the bow, you watch as the enchantments on it begin to take shape.

Evard: ()

Uriel: (3) Writing your newfound discovery down in your journal, you become engrossed in your journal flipping back and forth through it wondering how else you could further the research into exactly how Psions work,

Keegra: (7 - 1inj = 6) You run into the room, not quite sure what to start trying to loot first. You head over to the chest and find that it is locked, no matter how hard you try you find yourself unable to make the lid of the chest lift.

Xiv'riit: (12) Searching underneath the welcome mat, you find a large heavy key, that after Keegra's screams of annoyance at the chest she is at, you realize must be used to open the chest. Before you can move across the room the trap you activated when you picked up the mat comes into play, dropping a medium sized, metal spiked ball onto your head.

Combat! Trap (17) vs Xiv'riit (13 + 5 -1Arm = 17) Nothing happens...

Despite the ball falling towards your head, you barely feel it as it bounces off and lands on the floor besides you. Even though it didn't hurt persay you definitely feel the concussion caused by having a heavy object dropped on your head. So much for your theory that Parnax definitely wouldn't lay any traps for you in his treasure rooms. Gained Concussion (-3 Inj, 4 turns Remaining)

Kali: ()

Yeleni: ()

Priya: ()

Bellas: () You have heard of the Bore Hole and traveled many miles from the Elven Kingdom to get here. Along the way you encountered the Centaur who now walks by your side as the two of you enter this place. The cavernous entryway has thinned down to the point where you are forced to walk in single file, and has become so low that your centaur friend now has to duck. Still, you have found yourself at a crossroads, looking to your right you see what appears to be an armory with what seem to be the same kind of weapons as the ones you carry now, to the left is some kind of old barracks that now looks abandoned. Seeing a small huddle of people in the room ahead of you you enter, finding yourself in Room 4

Centorea: () You have heard of the Bore Hole and traveled many miles from the Southern Steppes to get here. Along the way you encountered the Elf who now walks by your side as the two of you enter this place. The cavernous entryway has thinned down to the point where you are forced to walk in single file, and has become so low that you now have to duck. Still, you have found yourself at a crossroads, looking to your right you see what appears to be an armory with what seem to be the same kind of weapons as the ones you carry now, to the left is some kind of old barracks that now looks abandoned. Seeing a small huddle of people in the room ahead of you you enter, finding yourself in Room 4

Davug: () You wait in the Last Bastion for Virro's next orders.

Shaban: () You wait in the Room 4 for Virro's next orders

Room 5: There are five male warriors standing a little bit back from the door in a line. The outer two are Lizardmen, whilst the other three are all dwarves The dwarves are clad in plate mail, and wield a shield and an axe each, the two Lizardmen are wearing some kind of Heavy Armour and are wielding Greatswords. Each of the Lizardmen are also holding the collars of a Guard Dog and seem ready to release them at a moments notice. Further back there is a female elf wearing Leather armour, wielding a Longbow with a full quiver of arrows on her back, Next to her is a female Centaur wearing Mail Armour with some Javelins strapped to her back. Finally, almost out of sight is a small Kobold in Light armour with a sling. The room itself is another long rectangle, although this one is thinner than room 4. There do not appear to be any other doors in this room, although a lone painting seems to stand out almost at the far end of the North Wall and two lighter shades of stone are almost opposite each other on the North and South Walls about a third of the way down. The rest of the room looks well used, a temporary smithy/kitchen seems to have been set up alongside some benches and desks with things going on on them and a small sleeping area. Noticing you are not Undead, the Warriors seem to relax slightly, and bid you welcome to, as they call it, "The Last Bastion."

Room 6: The room is relatively small, probably the smallest room you've been in so far, although the contents of the room may make it feel smaller than it actually is. In one of the corners there is a massive amount of weaponry, in another a massive collection of armours, a third has rings, belts and amulets galore, whilst the fourth corner holds a single chest. Directly opposite you is a map that looks different to the ones you have seen previously. The door that lead into this room has mysteriously disappeared, and in front of the now vacant doorway is a small rectangular welcome mat. This must be one of the treasure rooms scattered around the dungeon that you have heard about.

Rudig: (9) You head into Room 6 and start picking out some new armour for your fellow warriors in The Last Bastion

Urouk: () You stand guard, looking out of the known entrance to The Last Bastion.

Trijask: () You continue to guard the door to The Last Bastion and watch for enemies to kill.

Gantuxuz: (4) You stand in room 6 watching as people moe around and start to loot it.

Guard Dogs: () you wait for Trijask to give you an order and attack.

Renna: (9) You are able to enchant Virro's bow. With a finishing touch you make it slightly more lethal against undead, just because you feel like you can.

Prilanos: (3) Busy in the Last Bastion you don't realize anything is wrong in Room 6.

Blearm: () you giggle quietly, the normal people in The Last Bastion ignore you as they always do, you know you're not right in the head, if you were you wouldn't be where you are. Happy to be trading again you giggle as you watch both theElf and the Shardmind get acquainted with their new weapons

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Undead Bane (+3 Cir When fighting Undead), Rudig's Horn (Can be used twice to summon Rudig and a random number of others from the Last Bastion to help you until the end of the fight, can be used as a free action whilst in a fight), (Bitten Tongue, -1 Inj, 1 turns remaining) Health 22/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Fatal Touch (+6, Lethal Touch, Return Policy), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Known Enemy (+2 Cir when interacting with Zombie Lords), Undead Bane (+2 Cir when fighting Undead), Lethal Touch (Once per room you can activate Lethal Touch to double the attack bonus you gained in the round you activated Lethal Touch and the damage dealt by Fatal Touch in that round, this is done before the dice roll for combat. However you lose 1D6 Health every time you activate Lethal Touch), Return Policy (If the item with this rule is not in your hand, or on your body it will automatically return to your hand (if one is free) or sheath itself to your side (otherwise). Concussion (-3 Inj, 4 turns Remaining) Health 24/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

"Yeesh, doesn't that horse know how to pack lightly?" She asked to no one in particular. She then begun work on enchanting her Bow.

It was at about this moment that a smell hit her. It was definitely Tea, but it was the innate Tea-ness of the smell that caught her attention. To Tl;Dr the feelings it brought along, it was nostalgic, and comforting. She knew of only one Tea-maker that made Tea like this.

"Oi! Old Man!" Bellas said, waving to the Shardmind in question.

No reaction.

"The Tea's getting cold!"

Where one Uriel Seraphim once was there was now a simple cloud of dust.

"This Tea is not getting cold," The Shardmind said, examining the Tea Stand. He turned to where the voice came from, a raging fire in his eyes, quite literally in fact. Said fire died down almost immediately when he saw who stood there. "Ah, Miss Schwarz, it is a pleasure."

((Warning: The following is a lot of text with very little that is actually important. I shall sum it up below if you (justifiably) do not want to wade through this giant thing looking for the tiny kernels of useful information.))

She smiled a little. She wasn't a Rogue, at least, not this time, so she enjoyed the feeling of authority the sound gave her. As she surveyed the room, she noticed that one of the doors was open. "Oh?" she said. Carefully, she peered through the opening. It seemed to be empty except for a creature of some sort. She grimaced. On the other hand, perhaps there were times when being stealthy could be useful, even for a Knight. She drew her sword and shield, and walked about halfway across the floor. "Identify yourself!" The creature didn't move, nor did it speak. "I said, identify yourself!" Again, nothing happened. Centorea was a bit puzzled. She walked a bit closer. Still, nothing. She stared at the thing warily, looking for clues. Then, a tiny whiff of a familiar scent hit her nose. Ah, so that was it. A zombie. Evidently, a zombie without a master. She stepped a bit closer, and sniffed again. Whoever its master had been, he was good. Barely a hint of the scent of rot, and it seemed not to have visibly decayed at all. She paused, thought, and smiled. Well, that confirmed it. If her information was right, and it was rarely wrong, he was here, for who else would be so ridiculously fussy as to prevent a zombie from reeking of death? She carefully stepped around the zombie and into the next room. Ah, there he was, exactly as he'd been described to her. "Oh, Virro!" she called. Immediately, the Orc next to him swung around to face her, raising his mace. Virro himself also turned, but did not raise the bow he had just received from Renna. He stared at her.

"Do I know you?" he asked carefully. Mentally, she laughed. Whoops. Of course he wouldn't recognize her, she wasn't even the same species as she'd been before!

"Virro, it's Connel!" she said, stepping towards him. The Orc growled low in his throat, but Virro shook his head, then smiled at her, eyes a bit brighter for seeing someone he knew.

"Connel! It has been far too long," he said, walking towards her as she clopped over to him. They embraced when they met, and looked each other over. "I see you've changed more than your face," he said.

"Well, of course!" she replied. "Not all of us are sticks-in-the-mud like you who keep the same Race and name every time. Actually, I have changed my name this time, too. I'm Centorea, now!" He smirked a little.

"Centorea? Truly?"

"Yeah," she said, flashing a smile at him before bending down to whisper into his ear. "And, if you're good, I'll be your knight tonight, just like she's his." He shook his head and smiled.

"Not this time, I'm afraid," he said. "I take it you have taken the Knight class, then." She unbent and looked down at him.

"Yup," she replied. "Shield Wall form. I've also got the Healer and Cleric stuff from Centaur. I heard you guys could use some support. So, what about you?"

"I have taken the Beastmaster and Necromancer racial feats, and the Stealer of People class feat." It was Centorea's turn to smirk, and she looked over his head at Davug. He was standing a short distance away, and glaring at her.

"Oh, that one, huh? Is that why that guy's following you around and being so protective?" She grinned. "It's so cute when they try to do that for us! Oh, is it gonna be like the other time? The one where you-"

"Con- Centorea, please," Virro hissed, glancing nervously over his should. He saw Davug, and winced a little. "Please, Centorea, he said again, a bit less urgently. "Not here, not now, and not in front of them." She raised her eyebrows.

"Are you still that broken up over that? You fixed it in the end, didn't you? Undid what you did that year?" He grimaced, and looked away.

"It was still the most vile thing I have done in all of my existence," he said.

"Virro, that was literally lifetimes ago," she replied crossing her arms. "You've got to get over it someday."

"I am over it, but I shall not allow it to happen again. Now, may we please change the subject?"

"Alright, we can do that." She grinned again and bent down to whisper once more. "So, if you're not going to do that, how long is it gonna take before you start trying to get him to show you if he's more than just tall."

"Centorea!" he said. "I told you, I am not doing that again. Never again." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on, you know what I was asking," she replied. "I'm asking when you're just gonna talk him into it."

"I am not," he huffed. "This game was clearly not built for such purposes. There is no mechanic in place that would cover such a scenario."

"It's got a mechanic that covers everything," she said. "And, hey, looking at him, who knows what he's thinking. I mean, how hard did you really have to try to get him to come along with that face?" She stroked her fingers down his cheek, and he didn't flinch. It was rather normal, for them.

"I rolled a natural twenty," he muttered.

"Oooh, nice going. Oh, maybe that's the game's-" She was interrupted by a crashing sound from the next room. Virro was very relieved for the distraction. "What was that?" she asked.

"It was likely one of our teammates doing particularly poorly on a roll," he replied. "Do you wish to find out, and meet them in the flesh?"

"That sounds great," she said. She paused. "Oh, but, before we do, you should probably do something about that guy out there. He's not actually doing anything, and I'm guessing that's not on purpose." Virro groaned, and stuck his head through the doorway.

"Why does he have to be such an idiot?" he grumbled. He was about to shout at the zombie to turn around and actually guard the door, when Centorea decided to tell him another piece of valuable information.

"Oh, by the way, there's an Elf who's gonna be showing up pretty soon," she added. Virro glared at her.

"You could not have told me this before I almost had my zombie butchered?" he asked.

"I guess I just forgot," she said. She grinned and shrugged innocently.

"I know very well you did not," he said.

"Yeah, you're right." Centorea grinned and walked towards the hallways. Once she was a suitable distance away to Davug's mind, he walked up next to Virro.

"You know her." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes."

"How?" Virro sighed.

"I... cannot tell you at this moment. It would break certain... rules. I will explain it to you later, however. I do swear." Davug grunted. He was obviously not happy about it. Virro wondered if, perhaps, Centorea was right, and this was a form of... jealousy. He quickly dismissed the thought. No, it wasn't. "I must ask, was Shaban as much of a fool as I have seen him be in death in life?"

"Yes." They walked the little remaining distance in silence, and both were a bit relieved to find themselves on the other side of corridor. Centorea was standing next to Xiv'riit, shaking her head and looking at his.

"How did you get that to happen?" she asked. "Never mind, I know. Here, let me handle this." She began channeling healing energy into the Shardmind, trying to remove his injuries.

"I see you are taking to your role quite quickly," Virro said, smiling. "You may wish to know that this is Xiv'riit. Xiv'riit, this is Centorea. She will be joining our party." In a slightly better mood, he surveyed the room, and quickly made his way towards the row of amulets. Perhaps there was something he would find useful. Meanwhile, Davug, after giving the room a quick enough glance to believe that Xiv'riit had set off the only trap in the room, moved to search the pile of weaponry for another one-handed weapon he could use.

((TL;DR Version: Blah, blah, talking, blah, blah, vague references, blah, blah, Virro knows Shaban's not watching for anybody but is leaving him like that so Mattman's character can get through, blah, blah, game mechanics, blah, blah, leaning on the fourth wall, blah, blah, Centorea's using her Cleric powers on Xiv'riit, Virro's looking through the amulets and stuff, and Davug is looking for another one-handed weapon.))

Virro: (7 + 2Cir = 9) You barter with Blearm quite successfully, and are delighted when he gives you a fine oak longbow in return for your currently broken weapon. You are not quite sure where either your new longbow appeared from, or where your old bow went, but right now you don't really care. Lost Cracked Bow, Gained Longbow (+5)

Evard: ()

Uriel: (9) You use your powers in a way that most had not thought to use them before. Whilst you are very sure that there are no magic users in the next room, you are not 100% sure there are no sentient creatures in the next room at all. You did however feel the presence of several magic, and magical, items in the next room.

Keegra: (2) You try to speak but you just can't make the words come out. In fact the co-ordination between your teeth, your brain and your tongue is so bad that you manage to bite your tongue whilst trying to speak, badly. This doesn't stop you from trying however, and when you realize that talking isn't your best bet right now, in your gesturing you manage to strike the door, slightly harder than you intended. The pain jars your arm slightly, but with your bash the door seems to pop out of its hinges and fall to the ground, revealing to you Room 6. Gained (Bitten Tongue, -1 Inj, 1 turns remaining) Lost 3 health.

Xiv'riit: (12) You give your longsword to Blearm and in return he carefully hands you an exquisite longsword. It is only after he has handed it to you, and you have picked it up, that you realise that he had kept some cloth between his hand and the sword whilst giving it to you. Before you can question why, a searing pain ripples through your body, cause you to yell out in agony, however after a brief few, but painful, seconds the pain is gone. Looking at Blearm he squeaks "Sword is now bounds to you, it can never go too far from you and will always return. Onlys way to release you from this is to die." Despite the morbid way the Kobold ends his speech, you can't help but feel empowered by your sword. Gained Fatal Touch (+6, Lethal Touch, Return Policy) Lost 6 Health.

Kali: ()

Yeleni: ()

Priya: ()

Davug: () You wait in the Last Bastion for Virro's next orders

Shaban: () You wait in the Room 4 for Virro's next orders

Room 5: There are five male warriors standing a little bit back from the door in a line. The outer two are Lizardmen, whilst the other three are all dwarves The dwarves are clad in plate mail, and wield a shield and an axe each, the two Lizardmen are wearing some kind of Heavy Armour and are wielding Greatswords. Each of the Lizardmen are also holding the collars of a Guard Dog and seem ready to release them at a moments notice. Further back there is a female elf wearing Leather armour, wielding a Longbow with a full quiver of arrows on her back, Next to her is a female Centaur wearing Mail Armour with some Javelins strapped to her back. Finally, almost out of sight is a small Kobold in Light armour with a sling. The room itself is another long rectangle, although this one is thinner than room 4. There do not appear to be any other doors in this room, although a lone painting seems to stand out almost at the far end of the North Wall and two lighter shades of stone are almost opposite each other on the North and South Walls about a third of the way down. The rest of the room looks well used, a temporary smithy/kitchen seems to have been set up alongside some benches and desks with things going on on them and a small sleeping area. Noticing you are not Undead, the Warriors seem to relax slightly, and bid you welcome to, as they call it, "The Last Bastion."

Room 6: The room is relatively small, probably the smallest room you've been in so far, although the contents of the room may make it feel smaller than it actually is. In one of the corners there is a massive amount of weaponry, in another a massive collection of armours, a third has rings, belts and amulets galore, whilst the fourth corner holds a single chest. Directly opposite you is a map that looks different to the ones you have seen previously. The door that lead into this room has mysteriously disappeared, and in front of the now vacant doorway is a small rectangular welcome mat. This must be one of the treasure rooms scattered around the dungeon that you have heard about.

Rudig: () You puzzle over the existence of the newfound passageway and begin to work out how would be best to hold it in case things take a turn for the worse.

Gikur: (4) Amazed at how Keegra opened the door with a single punch, the disappearance of the door makes you worry about setting foot inside.

Urouk: () You stand guard, looking out of the known entrance to The Last Bastion.

Trijask: () You continue to guard the door to The Last Bastion and watch for enemies to kill.

Gantuxuz: (8) You move through the doorway, stepping over the welcome mat as if it wasn't there. Poking a couple of things and lifting weapons and armour from their positions you declare the room safe.

Guard Dogs: () you wait for Trijask to give you an order and attack.

Renna: ()

Prilanos: (7 + 2Cir = 9) taking the initiative you move over to Xiv'riit and try to heal him. (6) Your healing energy flows through him and heal him for 9 Health. You make the motions again, (4) restoring a further 5 Health.

Blearm: () you giggle quietly, the normal people in The Last Bastion ignore you as they always do, you know you're not right in the head, if you were you wouldn't be where you are. Happy to be trading again you giggle as you watch both theElf and the Shardmind get acquainted with their new weapons

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Undead Bane (+3 Cir When fighting Undead), Rudig's Horn (Can be used twice to summon Rudig and a random number of others from the Last Bastion to help you until the end of the fight, can be used as a free action whilst in a fight), (Bitten Tongue, -1 Inj, 1 turns remaining) Health 22/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Fatal Touch (+6, Lethal Touch, Return Policy), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Known Enemy (+2 Cir when interacting with Zombie Lords), Undead Bane (+2 Cir when fighting Undead), Lethal Touch (Once per room you can activate Lethal Touch to double the attack bonus you gained in the round you activated Lethal Touch and the damage dealt by Fatal Touch in that round, this is done before the dice roll for combat. However you lose 1D6 Health every time you activate Lethal Touch), Return Policy (If the item with this rule is not in your hand, or on your body it will automatically return to your hand (if one is free) or sheath itself to your side (otherwise). Health 24/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

He also takes out a journal labeled 'Uriel Seraphim's Methods and Applications of Eldritch Presence' and writes and entry. While doing so he proposes the party to take inventory of the room and find tools and weapons they may need, and trade the rest to the Kobold Vendor. He then mentions that they may soon need a Bag of Holding.

Virro: (7 + 2Cir = 9) You manage to successfully bargain with Renna. Although it does not appear that the other Elf was going to charge you for enchanting a bow for you, she was going to ask you to do a task that she will not specify exactly. However your charismatic personality wins her over, and she agrees that you do not have to do the task for her, she says she is sure someone else can do it if need be. .

Evard: ()

Uriel: (6) You brew what appears to be a normal cup of tea and are eager to drink it. Gained Tea.

Keegra: (11) From the shocked looks on the faces of all in The Last Bastion, you assume that the answer is, no, they did not know about it. A fact that Rudig soon confirms. A talk between the occupants of The Last Bastion reveal their certainty that noting hostile, alive or undead is in the room at the end of the secret passageway, although that doesn't mean the room is completely safe as there are trapped rooms in the dungeon waiting for someone to spring the trap and dies from them. You manage to convince Gikur and Gantuxuz to explore the passageway and the room beyond with you.

Xiv'riit: (10) Like Keegra you ask your questions and the occupants of The Last Bastion respond sincerely. They honestly had no idea that the passage had existed until Keegra had found it. It is thanks to your questions that Gantuxuz decides to help Gikur explore the passageway. Blearm meanwhile is bouncing up and down excitedly at the thought of someone trading with him.

Kali: ()

Yeleni: ()

Priya: ()

Davug: () You wait in the Last Bastion for Virro's next orders

Shaban: () You wait in the Room 4 for Virro's next orders

Room 5: There are five male warriors standing a little bit back from the door in a line. The outer two are Lizardmen, whilst the other three are all dwarves The dwarves are clad in plate mail, and wield a shield and an axe each, the two Lizardmen are wearing some kind of Heavy Armour and are wielding Greatswords. Each of the Lizardmen are also holding the collars of a Guard Dog and seem ready to release them at a moments notice. Further back there is a female elf wearing Leather armour, wielding a Longbow with a full quiver of arrows on her back, Next to her is a female Centaur wearing Mail Armour with some Javelins strapped to her back. Finally, almost out of sight is a small Kobold in Light armour with a sling. The room itself is another long rectangle, although this one is thinner than room 4. There do not appear to be any other doors in this room, although a lone painting seems to stand out almost at the far end of the North Wall and two lighter shades of stone are almost opposite each other on the North and South Walls about a third of the way down. The rest of the room looks well used, a temporary smithy/kitchen seems to have been set up alongside some benches and desks with things going on on them and a small sleeping area. Noticing you are not Undead, the Warriors seem to relax slightly, and bid you welcome to, as they call it, "The Last Bastion."

Rudig: () You puzzle over the existence of the newfound passageway and begin to work out how would be best to hold it in case things take a turn for the worse.

Gikur: (5) You advance up the passageway, however you are unable to open the door at the end, it is not locked, merely stuck in place, and appearing to swing into the passageway instead of into the room, you are unable to make any progress.

Urouk: () You watch Uriel make the tea, raising an eyebrow at the practice but otherwise leaving him to it.

Trijask: () You continue to guard the door to The Last Bastion and watch for enemies to kill.

Gantuxuz: (5) You are very sure the passageway itself has no traps or other secrets hidden along it, however, like Gikur you are unable to get the door open.

Guard Dogs: () you wait for Trijask to give you an order and attack.

Renna: ()

Prilanos: ()

Blearm: () you giggle quietly, the normal people in The Last Bastion ignore you as they always do, you know you're not right in the head, if you were you wouldn't be where you are. Still, you wonder if any of the newcomers have anything interesting to trade, it would be nice to just be a merchant again.

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Undead Bane (+3 Cir When fighting Undead), Rudig's Horn (Can be used twice to summon Rudig and a random number of others from the Last Bastion to help you until the end of the fight, can be used as a free action whilst in a fight) Health 25/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Known Enemy (+2 Cir when interacting with Zombie Lords), Undead Bane (+2 Cir when fighting Undead) Health 20/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

"My friends, allow me to attempt something," He says, placing his hand on the door.

He closes his eyes and begins to imagine the tendrils he associates with his Eldritch Presence. He imagines his hand as a hole in the door, and he lets the presence slip though the door. He then imagines the tendrils conforming to the shape of the room lies across the door. Should something of interest be beyond this door, he should know.

He approached the Kobold. "You are a Merchant, yes?" he inquired. "I believe I have something I would be willing to trade with you." He took out his bow and showed it to Blearm. "Would you be willing to exchange this for something?" Davug stepped a little closer, and eyed the Merchant suspiciously. Something was not quite right about that one. He did not trust him. He mentally readied himself to defend the Elf if need be.

Uriel: (5) You set about making another cup of tea. You let it brew successfully, however something about it doesn't quite fell right.

Keegra: (9) You take a look at the picture, tapping around the edges of it, it feels like the wall behind it is hollow in the middle. Taking a chance you rip through the picture and find yourself in a hallway you know isn't on the map you normally see in the rooms. The corridor bends around to the right a few paces ahead of you, and after a quick check, you notice that it only goes for a short length before it ends at a door, this one with a wooden sign attached with a number 6 on it. Whilst yu are not specifically listening out for anything, this area seems to be completely quiet.

Xiv'riit: (7) You manage to speak up to the room and get your questions asked.

Kali: () You move back up to Room 4

Yeleni: () You move back up to Room 4

Priya: () You move back up to Room 4

Davug: () You wait in the Last Bastion for Virro's next orders

Shaban: (4) You wait in the Room 4 for Virro's next orders

Room 5: There are five male warriors standing a little bit back from the door in a line. The outer two are Lizardmen, whilst the other three are all dwarves The dwarves are clad in plate mail, and wield a shield and an axe each, the two Lizardmen are wearing some kind of Heavy Armour and are wielding Greatswords. Each of the Lizardmen are also holding the collars of a Guard Dog and seem ready to release them at a moments notice. Further back there is a female elf wearing Leather armour, wielding a Longbow with a full quiver of arrows on her back, Next to her is a female Centaur wearing Mail Armour with some Javelins strapped to her back. Finally, almost out of sight is a small Kobold in Light armour with a sling. The room itself is another long rectangle, although this one is thinner than room 4. There do not appear to be any other doors in this room, although a lone painting seems to stand out almost at the far end of the North Wall and two lighter shades of stone are almost opposite each other on the North and South Walls about a third of the way down. The rest of the room looks well used, a temporary smithy/kitchen seems to have been set up alongside some benches and desks with things going on on them and a small sleeping area. Noticing you are not Undead, the Warriors seem to relax slightly, and bid you welcome to, as they call it, "The Last Bastion."

Rudig: () Listening to the Shardmind asking the questions you step forward to answer them. "Aye, Prilanos over there is our Healer and Cleric all in one." You say, pointing to the Centaur, "and if you want to trade, well we don't have a lot of stuff, and we'd rather not part with any of it, however Blearm over there." This time you point to the Kobold. "Has some kind of magic market stall thing-y set up so that only he can access it. It works on equivalent exchange. You give him something of one kind or another, and he'll give you something else of the same kind. So swords for swords or mail armour for mail armour. That kinda thing."

Gikur: () With no one interacting with you, you keep an eye on the Orc, watching for any hostility he may show. That he is potentially enthralled makes you even more paranoid about him.

Urouk: (9) You watch Uriel make the tea, raising an eyebrow at the practice but otherwise leaving him to it.

Trijask: () Alongside your brother you continue to guard the door to The Last Bastion and watch for enemies to kill.

Gantuxuz: () Alongside your brother you continue to guard the door to The Last Bastion and watch for enemies to kill.

Guard Dogs: () you wait for the Lizardmen to give you an order and attack.

Renna: () Annoyed that Virro just seems to be ignoring you as a person and trying to use your skills for himself, you sigh and shake you head. "I may be, but it's not like you'd need those skills with that piece of twig and string you've got yourself there. Get it repaired or traded and I may be able to see what I could do. After we talk price of course."

Prilanos: () Noticing Uriel is happy with his hand you walk forward as Rudig mentions your name to the other Shardmind. You can feel the divine magic coming from him and so you know that he is one of the main reasons this adventuring party were able to successfully drive off the zombies that had kept you in the Last Bastion.

Blearm: () you giggle quietly, the normal people in The Last Bastion ignore you as they always do, you know you're not right in the head, if you were you wouldn't be where you are. Still, you wonder if any of the newcomers have anything interesting to trade, it would be nice to just be a merchant again.

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Undead Bane (+3 Cir When fighting Undead), Rudig's Horn (Can be used twice to summon Rudig and a random number of others from the Last Bastion to help you until the end of the fight, can be used as a free action whilst in a fight) Health 25/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), (+2 Cir when interacting with Zombie Lords), Undead Bane (+2 Cir when fighting Undead) Health 20/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

There had been something suspicious about the painting. Xiv'riit had thought the painting was suspicious, and hoped Keegra would find it out. Which left it free to upgrade its weaponry before investigating the tunnel.

"Now, before it hands over its weaponry to you," the shardmind said smoothly, "it would like you to answer Keegra's question."

It had hoped to investigate the painting for signs of recent usage before it was destroyed, but for now, questioning was the more direct line. That said, it moved over to peer at the frame, as casually as it could.

Virro: () You are talking to Renna. As you do, you start to suspect that the Necromancer Robes made it a bit too obvious what you were and that maybe, it would of been better if you hadn't obviously worn them in this room. Too late now.

Evard: () You move back up to Room 4

Uriel: (8) With a bit of talking you manage to convince Urouk and Prilanos that you want your Knife hand improved not healed. The Centaur and the Dwarf put their heads together (figuratively) and after a minute have worked out how to do so. With Urouk using his smithing tools to sharpen your knife hand and Prilanos healing the pain that the tools create you soon have an Improved knife hand, even better for killing people with.

Keegra: () You continue to talk to Rudig and a bond starts to form between the two of you as you share stories and both relate how hard it is to lead a group. Whilst Rudig won't leave his group behind to travel with you, he gives you a horn that can be blown twice, when it is he will come to your aid until the fight is done, and if he is able he will bring some of the others from "The Last Bastion" too.

Xiv'riit: ()

Kali: () You move back up to Room 4

Yeleni: () You move back up to Room 4

Priya: () You move back up to Room 4

Davug: (7) You follow Virro into the Last Bastion, and decide that whilst you don't want to pick a fight with these guys you will if Virro commands.

Shaban: (4) Master may have commanded you but something happened and you did not obey, instead you continue to stand in Room 4 doing absolutely nothing.

Room 5: There are five male warriors standing a little bit back from the door in a line. The outer two are Lizardmen, whilst the other three are all dwarves The dwarves are clad in plate mail, and wield a shield and an axe each, the two Lizardmen are wearing some kind of Heavy Armour and are wielding Greatswords. Each of the Lizardmen are also holding the collars of a Guard Dog and seem ready to release them at a moments notice. Further back there is a female elf wearing Leather armour, wielding a Longbow with a full quiver of arrows on her back, Next to her is a female Centaur wearing Mail Armour with some Javelins strapped to her back. Finally, almost out of sight is a small Kobold in Light armour with a sling. The room itself is another long rectangle, although this one is thinner than room 4. There do not appear to be any other doors in this room, although a lone painting seems to stand out almost at the far end of the North Wall and two lighter shades of stone are almost opposite each other on the North and South Walls about a third of the way down. The rest of the room looks well used, a temporary smithy/kitchen seems to have been set up alongside some benches and desks with things going on on them and a small sleeping area. Noticing you are not Undead, the Warriors seem to relax slightly, and bid you welcome to, as they call it, "The Last Bastion."

Rudig: () You talk with Keegra, and develop a respect for her and think that you could call her friend. You give her your horn in case she comes into trouble but cannot permanently leave the Last Bastion, the others need you too much.

Gikur: () With no one interacting with you, you keep an eye on the Orc, watching for any hostility he may show. That he is potentially enthralled makes you even more paranoid about him.

Urouk: (9) You skillfully work at improving Uriel's hand alongside Prilanos, you wonder how such a thing happened, but decide not to ask.

Trijask: () Alongside your brother you continue to guard the door to The Last Bastion and watch for enemies to kill.

Gantuxuz: () Alongside your brother you continue to guard the door to The Last Bastion and watch for enemies to kill.

Guard Dogs: () you wait for the Lizardmen to give you an order and attack.

Renna: () Looking at Virro you scowl. "No I just decided to randomly carry a large piece of wood on my back. Yes I'm an archer, what do you want Necromancer?" The word necromancer is once again used as an insult. "I lost my sister to undead so don't think that just because we're both Elves I'm going to be any friendlier to you than anyone else."

Prilanos: () Alongside Urouk you help improve Uriel's Knife hand.

Blearm: () you giggle quietly, the normal people in The Last Bastion ignore you as they always do, you know you're not right in the head, if you were you wouldn't be where you are. Still, you wonder if any of the newcomers have anything interesting to trade, it would be nice to just be a merchant again.

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Undead Bane (+3 Cir When fighting Undead), Rudig's Horn (Can be used twice to summon Rudig and a random number of others from the Last Bastion to help you until the end of the fight, can be used as a free action whilst in a fight) Health 25/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), (+2 Cir when interacting with Zombie Lords), Undead Bane (+2 Cir when fighting Undead) Health 20/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

It seemed obvious to it that these were a group of adventurers who'd decided to situate themselves inside this Last Bastion, Watching Over the rest of the cave network as best they could.

It stood to attention, and addressed them. "Are there any clerics among you? Xiv'riit and its companions seek to move further within the caves to find the dragon-- perhaps some armor could be spared? If not entirely, perhaps a trade might be in order?"

"I was not speaking of archery itself, but of the ability that I know some Elves possess that allows them to create bows that fire projectiles without having any at hand. I wished to know if you had this ability."

Virro: (8) You put on the Robe that Shaban gave you, as you do you feel empowered, (+1 Cir When trying to raise/control Undead). Talking to the people on the other side of the door you get a grunt of confirmation at your suggestion.

Evard: ()

Uriel: (11) Enthusiastically strolling through the door, you find yourself faced with a motley collection of people from various races. There are five male warriors standing a little bit back from the door in a line. The outer two are Lizardmen, whilst the other three are all dwarves The dwarves are clad in plate mail, and wield a shield and an axe each, the two Lizardmen are wearing some kind of Heavy Armour and are wielding Greatswords. Each of the Lizardmen are also holding the collars of a Guard Dog and seem ready to release them at a moments notice. Further back there is a female elf wearing Leather armour, wielding a Longbow with a full quiver of arrows on her back, Next to her is a female Centaur wearing Mail Armour with some Javelins strapped to her back. Finally, almost out of sight is a small Kobold in Light armour with a sling. The room itself is another long rectangle, although this one is thinner than room 4. There do not appear to be any other doors in this room, although a lone painting seems to stand out almost at the far end of the North Wall and two lighter shades of stone are almost opposite each other on the North and South Walls about a third of the way down. The rest of the room looks well used, a temporary smithy/kitchen seems to have been set up alongside some benches and desks with things going on on them and a small sleeping area. Noticing you are not Undead, the Warriors seem to relax slightly, and bid you welcome to, as they call it, "The Last Bastion."

Keegra: (6) Unfortunately you're not all that helpful. You try your best and manage to help Davug remove all the shards, but that's about it. (Davug gains +1 Health)

Xiv'riit: (9) You manage to use your magic to help patch up some of Davug's wounds, although your burst of healing magic doesn't seem to be particularly strong this time. Perhaps you need to rest it for a bit before it will be as powerful as it was when you entered this room... (Davug gains 2 Health)

Kali: ()

Yeleni: ()

Priya: ()

Davug: (7) You pick up the mace and put it on your belt. You also find a pouch to put the shards in.

Shaban: () Master has not commanded you so you shall not move.

Room 5: There are five male warriors standing a little bit back from the door in a line. The outer two are Lizardmen, whilst the other three are all dwarves The dwarves are clad in plate mail, and wield a shield and an axe each, the two Lizardmen are wearing some kind of Heavy Armour and are wielding Greatswords. Each of the Lizardmen are also holding the collars of a Guard Dog and seem ready to release them at a moments notice. Further back there is a female elf wearing Leather armour, wielding a Longbow with a full quiver of arrows on her back, Next to her is a female Centaur wearing Mail Armour with some Javelins strapped to her back. Finally, almost out of sight is a small Kobold in Light armour with a sling. The room itself is another long rectangle, although this one is thinner than room 4. There do not appear to be any other doors in this room, although a lone painting seems to stand out almost at the far end of the North Wall and two lighter shades of stone are almost opposite each other on the North and South Walls about a third of the way down. The rest of the room looks well used, a temporary smithy/kitchen seems to have been set up alongside some benches and desks with things going on on them and a small sleeping area. Noticing you are not Undead, the Warriors seem to relax slightly, and bid you welcome to, as they call it, "The Last Bastion."

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Undead Bane (+3 Cir When fighting Undead), Health 25/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), (+2 Cir when interacting with Zombie Lords), Undead Bane (+2 Cir when fighting Undead) Health 20/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

He commanded Shaban to go stand in the room the party had started in and scream if he was being brutally murdered. Again. And fight back, of course. He'd have to go stitch him back up later, but for now, that should do. He stepped into the room, and said, "We are indeed, but if straits are this dire, perhaps we could make a detour in and aid you in escaping from this place." Davug followed and stood behind him, but was ready to thrust him out of danger and defend him if he was given any reason to.

"Don't try to hide what you are Necromancer." He makes the word sound like an insult,probably because he is using it as one. "If we could have escaped we would have, but whatever magic Paarnax has woven through the Bore Hole prevents us from doing so, much like it now prevents you from escaping or creating new tunnels and caves. Even if it didn't we wouldn't need your pansy assistance Elf." Again Elf sounds like an insult. Rudig looked at Keegra, "Now is there anything in particular you want? You should not worry about the numbers we faced, we do not think Paarnax has those kinds of numbers anymore. "

It appeared there was another Elf in the room, and perhaps she was an Arcane Archer who could enchant his bow should he get it repaired. Hm. Well, he might as well ask. "Excuse me, ma'am," he said to her, "But would one of your talents be that of the Archer?"

The two are muttering between themselves and until one scowls, curses and then steps forward. "Greetings He Who Speaks Across Doors. I am Udouk Goldtank and this is my half-brother Gikur Ironfeet, I must ask are you under any sort of curse?"

"I willed my hand into this shape while fighting Zombies in the previous room," He said, gesturing to said hand. "Turns out it worked a little bit to well and my hand ended up stuck like this," He paused for a moment. "My Shardmother always said 'When life gives you geodes, you make crystals,' so if any of you dwarves could see if you could improve my hand, perhaps with the help of your Centaur friend over there," he gestured to said Centaur friend, assuming her to be a healer, "That would be greatly appreciated."

"I didn't mean your hand He Who Speaks Across Doors, I meant whatever the sod happened to your voice when you spoke through the door to our Bastion. It sounded like the worst gibberish we'd ever heard of. 'Pologies and my sympathy if that's your native tongue, because it must be bloody hard to talk to anyone about anything like that." Gesturing to the Centaur he said. "Now this, here is our Healer and Cleric Prilanos, I know we Dwarves can do anything about you're hand, but if anyone can do anything down here, it's probably her."

Blearm is a Kobold Trader. With his ultra-special hyperspace market-stall he can travel anywhere and still access his stall, allowing you to trade items with him if you want to. However, this mechanic is only in play whilst Blearm is alive and not enthralled, and undeath will not bring it back. Also to trade with Blearm you must specify what you want, and give him something of the same type in exchange (If you want a weapon you must give him a weapon, if you want a piece of armour you must give him some armour, or if you want an Other, you must give him an Other that is an item) The more powerful the thing you give him the more likely the thing you get in return will be more powerful (ie if you gave him a Sword +1 the likelihood you'll get a sword +5 back would be, say 1/10th, but if you gave him a Sword +3 the likelihood you'll get a sword +5 would be 2/10ths for example.) This has been put on Discord, but is here for permanence.

"Hail Keegra Bloodfist of the Frostwolf Tribe, my name is Rudig Stoneheart. I lead what is left of this expedition. We came down here almost a year ago now to kill Paarnax the Dragon, we were the largest expedition to ever make it down the Bore-Hole. At first we were made good progress until we came to a room to the South East of here where an acid river runs through the dungeon. Some tried to cross it and died, and we could find no way past it and through to the caverns beyond."

"There is a way however, as Paarnax's minions used it to kill off our scouts at night, and slowly we had to retreat back towards the entrance. That was when Paarnax revealed his true plan, he has a coven of Necromancers in his employ and they had raised all our dead and charged them against us. We fought for hours and lost many of our own, who were then raised against us. Eventually about 20 of us made it to this room and the room you just came from. That number steadily decreased as we lost scouts and others to Paarnax's minions to those of us you see now."

"Up until a couple of months ago we were able to get scouting parties out of the entrance to the Bore Hole to gather food, and it's just as well we stockpiled it and didn't lose the stockpile when Paarnax's minions attacked us. As the way is now blocked and so we're slowly running out of food, but we reckon we can hold on for a little while longer."

Rudig stopped for a second. "So, I assume you are here to try and succeed where we had failed?"

Virro: (5) As you suspected Zombie Lords, like other undead, are weak to Healing magic. Seeing Xiv'riit already getting to work in that regard you decide to just fire an arrow at the advancing Zombie Lord. Suddenly you start to feel the Zombie Lords emotions, not really sure what is going on you plan to find out AFTER your former minion has been killed. At the moment of the Zombie Lord's death, you feel it through your link, and decide that you never want to experience that again, the emotions that ran through the Zombie Lord as it died are too overwhelming to really describe.

Fight!: (Virro gets (2 + 2 Dam + 2 Cir = 6) vs Zombie Lord gets (8 + 6 + 3 Arm - 3 Inj = 14) As you pull back your bow to fire you hear the wood creak, almost ready to snap. Firing immediately your underpowered arrow bounces off of the Zombie Lords armour as if it's end wasn't pointed at all. A quick examination of your bow reveals there is now a nice crack down most of the upper arm, and you know you'll either need to find a smith to fix it or get a new bow pronto. Cracked Bow (-2 Dam when firing bow).

Evard: ()

Uriel: (7 - 1 Cir = 6) You manage to connect yourself, Virro and the Zombie Lord together in some kind of basic emotional link, whilst it doesn't help Virro gain control of the Zombie Lord it does give the three of you a feeling for each others emotions, or it would if the Zombie Lord's anger and rage didn't pour forth from its part of the connection and overwhelm whatever emotions you and Virro could sense from one another. At the moment of the Zombie Lord's death, you feel it through your link, and decide that you never want to experience that again, the emotions that ran through the Zombie Lord as it died are too overwhelming to really describe.

Keegra: (11) Leaping at the Zombie Lord once again you instinctively know exactly where to hit to cause maximum damage. Your many fights against the undead have paid off as you now have the ability to almost instantly work out exactly how to take down the undead, and how to dodge their own attacks back at you. Undead Bane (+3 Cir When fighting Undead).

Xiv'riit: (9 + 2 Cir = 11) Whether or not the Book of Pulp helped or not, you're not sure. What you do know is that for a brief moment time seemed to stand still as you leaped for the Zombie Lord, like Keegra you suddenly find yourself able to work out exactly how to take down Undead in close combat, and with your mighty Spork drawn and ready you found time resuming, as you leapt onto the Zombie Lord's currently unprotected flank (losing that arm certainly didn't help) and set about jabbing the Undead with your Spork. Undead Bane (+2 Cir when fighting Undead).

Davug: (7) Joining in on the all out brawl against the Zombie Lord you swing both Mace and Sword at it.

Fight!: (Davug gets (6 + 1 Dam + 2 Cir = 9) vs Zombie Lord gets (18 + 6 + 3 Arm - 3Inj = 24). Offf-hand Davuge gets (13 + 2 Dam + 2 Cir = 17) vs Zombie Lord gets (18 + 6 + 3 Arm - 3Inj = 24).
With a swing of your sword you look on in shock as it breaks into tiny pieces when it hits the Zombie Lord Armour, the pieces fly back towards you and you have no time to dodge as they fly into your and ignore your armour (-10 Health). Hurt from the sword shards you don't put your full power into your swing with the mac and it tells as it just bounces off the Zombie Lords armour. You are glad when the Zombie Lord falls, but know that it was not you who did the deed.

Shaban: (7) As your master commands you stand still and watch the fight.

Zombie Lord: (10) As you go down you swing wildly, hitting everyone who is now around you. (

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Undead Bane (+3 Cir When fighting Undead), Health 25/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), (+2 Cir when interacting with Zombie Lords), Undead Bane (+2 Cir when fighting Undead) Health 20/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

It looked at Virro, scathing words on its tongue, but it seemed Keegra had rendered anything it had to say redundant, and so turned to the less-than-successful orc.

"Very well fought," it said drily, raising the equivalent of one eyebrow at the orc. "We shall be sure to call upon you whenever we are faced with the mortal peril of intact weaponry." However, as unimpressed as the shardmind was, it was also aware that they might need everyone they could get at some point in the dungeon, and so it begrudgingly healed the orc's injuries.

Keegra gave the elf a dirty look before going to check on Davug, hoping to use her knowledge of first aid to assist him. "Don't worry," she said in Orcish, "you will heal even more quickly with the aid of the shardmind with the spork."

The Orc shakes his head in reply, then says, "Heal quickly. Will be gone soon." He picks up the Mace lying on the floor. At least the Combat Bonus is the same as the one he received from his sword. He decides he'll keep whatever shards he can salvage, both for their sentimental value and because random shards of metal might come in handy some time. This is a dungeon, after all. Things like that happen all the time. After doing this, he goes to petition Xiv'riit for his help. Meanwhile, Virro has taken the Necromancer's Robe from Shaban, then starts talking (rather loudly) through the door, hoping there's still somebody on the other side to hear him. Should there be anybody in the next room, he attempts to persuade them that the are not, in fact, enemies, and that, if they would be so kind as to step away from the door, he will open it so that both parties can get a good look at each other.

"Well that works," he said with shaky breaths, not exactly saying he wouldn't do it again.

He regained his composure and walked over to the door with the dwarf on the other side. "Ja, we have taken care auf the Zombie-bitter. We will becoming in now. Please don't kill us!" With that, he opened the door.

Uriel: (5) You pull off what you think is a wonderful accent. Unfortunately those on the other side don't seem to be able to understand what you said in it. The door opens a crack, and you notice a Dwarf looking through the crack in the door, he seems to see the Zombie Lord and then slams the door shut in your face before anything else can be said. You don't hear anything else from the room.

Keegra: (8) You notice the Zombie Lord making its charge just in time and decide to counter-charge it. Never one to miss a battle you go in all fists flying.

Xiv'riit: (6) You hear the voices trying to work out exactly what Uriel said, but after the door has been opened a crack and then promptly shut again you cannot hear anymore, they have obviously moved away from the door and so you can no longer hear them.

Kali: ()

Yeleni: ()

Priya: ()

Davug: (3) You watch as the Zombie Lord heads for the door before turning around and charging straight at Virro. You freeze with indecision, not entirely sure what to do.

Shaban: (10) You head into the other room and find a weird black robe on one of the armour stands, picking it up you realize it is magical,but there is no way to know exactly what it does until someone wears it. And seeing as your master did not tell you to wear it you won't. Gained Necromancers Robe (+1 Armour, Other Effects)

Zombie Lord: (12) You start to walk away from Virro. (4) As you do you feel his control over you slipping and you feel free to wreck your revenge, first on Virro then on anything else in your way. With your rage all you can focus on you turn and charge at your former master (+2 Dam in this round of combat). Your hatred of all things living also bubbles through as your limited mind plans to slaughter everything you can (+3 Dam against other Living beings). Mid-Charge you notice an arrow from your former master bounce off your armour and your eagerness to slay him only increases. Whilst your charge is successful, it has put strain on your new body and part of it fails to take the strain. As you lift your off arm to strike down with the Mace it flies off, your undead body now less one limb. (-3 Inj 2 Turns Remaining), fortunately you keep your Mace in the other hand and can still hit with it.

Fight!: (Zombie Lord gets (15 + 6 Dam -3 Inj = 18) vs Virro gets (7 + 5 + 1 Cir = 13). Virro loses 5 Health.) Mace in hand, the Zombie Lord manages to use it against the cowering Virro, even without one of its arms. Still a threat, it ignores the blows raining down on it from Keegra behind and focuses on Virro in front of it.

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Health 26/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), (+2 Cir when interacting with Zombie Lord), Health 25/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

"I knew it," it muttered, bringing its hands together and circling his palms slowly, healing magic sparking and flashing between them. Bright, blue light danced in complex arcs that should've seared with heat, but regenerated flesh before it had even sealed by folding the process forward through time so as to be instantaneous to an outside viewer.

""I will strike upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know My name is the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon thee!" he bellowed, quoting from the Book of Pulp, ancient tome from which he had learned the art of healing so many centuries ago, as he leapt for the zombie lord.

Uriel turns to face the Zombie Lord, then contemplates his bladed hand, then shifts his gaze to Virro. He then lowers to a Meditative position, imagining his Eldritch Presence. It's a mess of tendrils, snaking throughout the room, growing heavier around his party's magic users. He sees tendrils that once connected Virro to the Zombie Lord, seeing that some may still be connected.

He focuses his will on the tendrils originating from Virro, attempting to will them to reconnect to the tendrils emerging from the Zombies Lord, in an attempt to restore and strength Virro's command over it. He's also prepared to stop the manipulation should anything unexpected happen (ie, The Zombie gaining control over him).

He may or may not be cursing the random die roll that forced him to stand by while the zombie charged by him, even though he was attempting to keep watch. Meanwhile, Virro, who was most certainly not cowering, backs away from the Zombie Lord and begins firing arrows at the creature. "I see this is what you meant. I suppose this new, more powerful version of undead requires more finesse to control," he mutters. He uses his magic to probe the Zombie Lord and see if there are any special techniques he can find while that will give him an edge if he ever finds another of these things. He also makes a note to thank Keegra for interfering on his behalf after he gets rid of this monster. Meanwhile, Shaban does nothing, because he is not about to risk his master's new loot.

Virro: (10 + 2 Cir = 12) You successfully raise the Zombie, and with a burst of magic you make it stronger than before. You almost feel like you want to laugh as your new creation stitches itself back together and begins to flex its muscles and bend down to pick up the Mace on the floor. Amidst your triumph you fail to notice the Zombie Lord gain a bit of sentience, unknown to you it remembers what happened to it before and wishes to break free of your control. Either way you have become better at raising the dead through this. Gained Zombie Lord (Rolls 2D6 every round independent of its action, on a 2, 3 or 4 it breaks free of its control and becomes hostile to Virro) Necromantic Genius (+2 Cir when trying to raise undead).

Evard: ()

Uriel: (4) You realise that with potential enemies next door, making tea now is not a good idea.

Keegra: (9) You stand by the door, ready to jump out at anything that comes through it. (+1 Cir against anything that comes through the door next turn).

Xiv'riit: (9) You watch the Zombie as it arises anew, and you make careful consideration of exactly where it's weaknesses are, and what it is like. (+2 Cir when interacting with Zombie Lord).

Kali: ()

Yeleni: ()

Priya: ()

Davug: (10) You go and stand guard with Keegra, no longer hiding the fact that you admire her and the way she fights, so much so that you are actually more confident now when you are in a fight with Keegra. Admirer(+2 Cir when fighting alongside Keegra)

Shaban: ()

Zombie Lord: (7) Picking up the mace in your hands you feel ready to do some damage, you also notice a piece of Scale Mail lying around and decide to take it to provide you with more protection than just your skin. (9) You cannot shake off your loyalty to Virro and so still feel like you must obey his command.

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Health 26/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), (+2 Cir when interacting with Zombie Lord), Health 25/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

"I suppose I should get ready." Virro nocks an arrow in his bow and leaves it ready to either raise and fire at any hostile intruders. If they're not hostile, he'll attempt to persuade, but not to Enthrall, them that they have no reason to attack instead. "Hm. I suppose all of us standing here would be rather inconvenient." He nodded to Shaban, who shuffled away into the first room to look for more equipment, particularly Clothing that conferred an armor bonus. "Now, what was that about my new zombie being different, Xiv'riit?" As he said this, he moved the Zombie Lord in front of the door to help guard it. Davug eyed it suspiciously- he'd learned that sometimes it was hard to tell when certain members of the team were handing over information normally protected by the fourth wall- and decided it was worth more of his attention than the door, so he decided to focus on keeping the new zombie from hurting anybody who wasn't an enemy.

"Xiv'riit will be keeping an eye on you as well, Virro," the shardmind growled. "This creature is not like the rest. Xiv'riit does not trust it."
Xiv'riit walked over to where Keegra was, and bent his head to concentrate on the voices

Virro: (7) An ancient Cosmic being laughs and decides to maybe stop screwing you around, for now at least. Unaware of this however, you fire your bow at Zombie 7. Unfortunately Zombie 2 has broken free of your control and will no longer listen to you.

Uriel: (7 -1Cir = 6) You clumsily throw your mace at Zombie 7 (No Dam bonus during that combat), after all some weapons are not meant to be thrown. Your attempt at getting 'knife-hand' works really well, too well in fact as you find you cannot unwill them and get your hand back to normal. Gained Knife-Hand (+2 Dam when Unarmed, Can only hold items with one hand.)

You watch your mace miss the zombie, flying past its leg and landing at its feet. your charge is more successful. With fists of fury you beat Zombie 7 into the ground, making sure that it will definitely stay down this time. You vent some of your anger out onto it, even after it is dead and find it is a good stress reliever and punching bag.

Keegra: (7) Launching yourself at Zombie 1 you find yourself giggling with glee, whether it is because you are once again fighting something or because you no longer have to use that stupid accent you're not sure, and to be honest at the moment you don't really care.

With great enthusiasm, you launch yourself at the Zombie and smash it into tiny little pieces, all the while grinning like a (slight) maniac. Between this and when you first entered the room you have truly become adept and killing undead with your fists.

Xiv'riit: (7) You successfully scrawl or remember the remaining formula's as you start to attack the Zombie with your faithful Spork.

Priya: (9) With a dexterous twist of your tail you send the blade of your Monk's Spade into both of the remaining hostile zombies, and thankfully only them.

Fight!: (Priya gets (13 + 4 Dam = 17) vs Zombie 2 gets (8 + 6 = 14) Zombie 2 loses 1 Health.) Lightly nicking it as it tries to jump out of your way, you notice the two zombies still under control of the Necromancer closing in on your first target and hope you do not have to worry about it.

Fight!: (Priya gets (12 + 4 Dam = 17) vs Zombie 4 gets (10 + 6 = 16) Zombie 4 loses 1 Health.) Careful not to hit your allies you have to twitch your tail at the last second as the studious one gets up to fight, thus you only cause a glancing blow to it despite your best efforts.

Davug: (10) Noticing Zombie 1 getting taken out by the Half-Orc, and admiring her way too much to try and fight alongside her, you'd just get in her way after all. Davug turns his attention to Zombie 4. Jumping over the Monk's Spade that is attached to the Lizardwomen's tail, Davug is able to use this leap to get a bit more force behind his attacks. (+1 Cir this round in combat.)

Zombie 3: (3 - 1 Inj = 2) You Shamble forwards, not looking where you are going, and end up walking into the dangerous part of a Monk's Spade. Zombie 3 loses 8 Health. Splitting you in half, you have no time to think on what just happened before you cease to be... Again. Zombie 3 dies.

Room 4: Where once 8 Zombies waited to attack adventurers, now all have fallen prey to the party, most for a second time. The room itself has three other exits, two on the right hand, West wall, one noticeably nearer than the other, the other exit door is in the East wall two thirds of the way down the room. Where the far wall used to change colour has now been revealed as a secret passageway leading to a door to the South..

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Health 26/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 25/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

was that truly necessary? Hm. I suppose it was. However, you need not insult my necromancy. Or, rather, you need not insult necromancy in general. I have been failing to support this team as I should have been. I believe, if you do not require my aid, I believe I shall try to animate this creature again." Virro turned to the last viable corpse and began working to reanimate it. Davug rolled his eyes and joined Keegra by the door. He nodded at her in acknowledgement of her skill, but otherwise simply waited, weapons drawn. Shaban just did nothing. Virro saw no need to risk his last remaining zombie by making him roll when he had nothing to do.

"You fool!" she snapped. "What did you really think would happen if you went messing about with the natural order of things?" She huffed and went to stand guard by the door where she knew the orcs were waiting. "There are more enemies beyond this door. Stay on your guard."

Virro: (2) With a burst of magical power you pour your will into all of the remaining corpses and giggle slightly with glee as they all return to life. Unfortunately, they have all risen to life AGAINST you and your party and you will have to fight them again. Even worse, you realize they are impervious to your attempts to control them, and they will be impossible to raise again once you have defeated them this second time. Zombies 1, 4, 7 and 8 all return to 'life' and are hostile to the party.

Evard:() Suddenly the room is no longer as safe as it once was and you flee back into the corridor to the North to hopefully become safe.

Uriel: (4) You search the room more thoroughly but find nothing, apart from four corpses Virro has returned from the dead and somehow set them to be hostile to you.

Keegra: (3) Noticing that only two of the six zombies in the room are on your side you freeze as you try to decide whether opening the door is such a good idea or not. A battle on two fronts is not a strategically good move, no matter how much you lust for battle.

Xiv'riit: ()

Kali:() Suddenly the room is no longer as safe as it once was and you flee back into the corridor to the North to hopefully become safe.

Yeleni:() Suddenly the room is no longer as safe as it once was and you flee back into the corridor to the North to hopefully become safe.

Priya: (12) You manage to grab the Greatsword before it's previous owner comes back from the dead, and noticing it doing so you immediately smash your newly obtained Greatsword into it's head repeatedly. Unfortunately on your last bash you drop the weapon and somehow its blade smashes into loads of tiny pieces which fly everywhere. Most of the pieces hit the zombie and finish it off. However several hit you, finding their way between your armour and into your skin (-10 Health). Well at least you still have your Monk's Spade.

Davug: (8) You head over to loot the bodies, and you are able to get to one Zombie and remove its Leather Armour(Light, +2) and Club(+2) before it rises and starts advancing on you in a decidedly unfriendly manner. However you make no effort to defend as your master has not commanded you to.

Shaban: (4) You stumble to a stop way before the door you were meant to stand in as the zombies rise again to face your master and his friends. You hear their call and wonder which side would be better to join... then you remind yourself of your masters complete control over you and you wonder how you had that thought.

Zombie 2: (6 - 2 Cir = 4) You start to shake free of Virro's control as you see your Zombie friend's rise however you are unable to actually do anything.

Zombie 3: (7 -1Inj = 6) You stumble towards the Eastern door as told to, however you don't quite make it, realizing your fellow Zombie under Virro's will has not moved you move yourself to a position that can overlook both doors if need be... the North-Western corner to be precise.

Zombie 1: (9) You get up and advance on Davug who doesn't seem to be actively defending himself. (+1 Cir until Davug starts to defend). Thankfully (for him) he stripped you of your weapons and armour before you were able to attack him.

Zombie 4: (7) Getting up, you charge at the nearest living being, ready to kill. That it is the Shardmind that helped kill many of your fellow Zombies just makes it better.

Fight!: (Zombie 4 gets (18) vs Xiv'riit (13 + 5 + 2Cir = 20) Even whilst still working out hypothetical formulas in the dirt, Xiv'riit is able to capably hold off the Zombie, pushing it away with one hand.

Zombie 7: (4) Surprised at your reanimation and even further surprised by the lack of ownership the elven Necromancer has over you, you scream in what you mean to be joy, but most would describe a rage and begin to work out who you want to kill first.

Room 4: Where once 8 Zombies waited to attack adventurers, now all have fallen prey to a Shardmind and a Half-Orc. The two Zombies killed outright by Xiv'riit's blast of healing magic are now nothing but dust. One of the remaining Zombies have been bought back onto the party's side, another has escaped Virro's control and is now hostile. However the other 4, despite having been stripped of loot, have risen again and are hostile to the party, due to a mistake by Virro. The room itself has three other exits, two on the right hand, West wall, one noticeably nearer than the other, the other exit door is in the East wall two thirds of the way down the room. Where the far wall used to change colour has now been revealed as a secret passageway leading to a door to the South..

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), Health 26/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 25/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

"You have got to be kidding," she snarled to herself, watching the zombies come to life around her. And as if fate had been waiting for her to think that things couldn't get any worse, she now had a whole bunch of metal shards lodged in her scales, and no greatsword.

Every movement hurt, and now she found herself surrounded, but she wasn't going down so easily. She still had a long reach and brute strength on her side.

With that comforting thought, she let out a bellowing roar (not unlike that of an alligator) and swung her powerful tail in a wide arc around her, the blade on her monk's spade augmenting her reach and slicing power. Hopefully she'd be able to catch at least one of the zombies with this attack, and then use the opening to escape to the next room...

"By Corellon's bow, if I didn't know better, I would think somebody was interfering with my work!" he growls. "This is truly getting ridiculous!" He readies his bow and fires at Zombie 7 while commanding Zombie 2 to sit still and not try to defend itself while Shaban and Zombie 3 dismember it. Meanwhile, Davug grimly draws both his Longsword and his Mace and begins the messy work of returning Zombie 1 to the grave, again.

He then pulled out his mace, contemplated it for a moment, and through it at the nearest Zombie with as much force as he could muster. He then dashed towards said Zombie, willing one of his hands to sharpen before jabbing it into the Zombie's face via a Knife Hand Uppercut.

Virro: (5) You are able to successfully raise one zombie, although you were aiming for two and the second seems to have collapsed in on itself (and definitely won't get back up). Unfortunately for you, the Zombie you raised was both unarmed and unarmoured, and upon closer inspection you realise that its hands are missing the thumbs, making the likelihood of it being able to hold a weapon very low. Still, at least it's one more minion to throw at others, right? Gained Zombie 3

Evard: () Now that the Room is empty, you move up to Room 4

Uriel: (11) You search through One of the two remaining graves, whilst at first glance the corpse resting inside the grave has nothing of note on its person, you notice the buckle of its belt shining oddly. picking it up you examine it, and seeing it is magical you put it on. You feel strength coursing through your veins, and you feel even more competent with your unarmed training than you did before. Unknown to you, the corpse you looted once belonged to a monk of a long forgotten order, and whilst Keegra was fortunate to loot his apprentice's body, you have had the luck to loot the body of a master monk himself. The belt is a Belt of Advanced Monk Training (+3 Dam when unarmed.)

Keegra: (7) Heading over to the eastern door, you can hear part of a conversation going on on the other side of the door.
"... you sure?"
"Well, it sure sounds quiet out there, and we all felt that burst of healing magic."
"Let's get ready anyway. It could be a trap."
The voices get quieter as they head away from the door. From the sounds of it the people on the other side of the door may just be friendlies, although you've seen and heard no evidence of a group passing through the Bore-Hole to take on Paarnax before you for quite a while...

Xiv'riit: (4) Awed at the awesome use of your powers over the last couple of turns you start to think of all the different ways you could possibly use this, if you can tap into it again that is. Using the dirt you start to scribble down some equations and hypotheses and try to solidify your understanding of what happened and to work out if you could use this to advance clerical skills the world over, assuming you survive of course.

Kali () Now that the Room is empty, you move up to Room 4

Yeleni: () Now that the Room is empty, you move up to Room 4

Priya: ()

Daug: (7) You manage to successfully loot the final grave. Although there is no corpse inside it, there is a set of Leather Armour(+2) and a Mace(+2). The Armour is worse than what you currently have, but the Mace is better than your old longsword, and unless your Master asks otherwise you'll be using your newly found mace as well from now on.

Shaban: (7) You go and obediently stand in the corner.

Zombie 2: (9- 2Cir = 7) You successfully stay under Virro's control, although for some reason you feel like you've only just been placed here...

Zombie 3: (6) You shuffle around uncertain of what to do now that you've fallen under the control of this elven mortal. You don't see one of your old fellows and stub your toe on him (-1 Inj, 4 Turns Remaining)

Room 4: Where once 8 Zombies waited to attack adventurers, now all have fallen prey to a Shardmind and a Half-Orc. The two Zombies killed outright by Xiv'riit's blast of healing magic are now nothing but dust, however the other six still lay on the ground, able to potentially be resurrected. The room itself has three other exits, two on the right hand, West wall, one noticeably nearer than the other, the other exit door is in the East wall two thirds of the way down the room. Where the far wall used to change colour has now been revealed as a secret passageway leading to a door to the South..

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 26/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 25/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

Loot in Room 4: [Leather Armour(Light +2), Club(+2)] Zombie 1, [Hide Armour(Light, +1)] Zombie 4, [Scale Mail(Mail. +3), Greatsword(+2)] Zombie 8. (12 graves which may be lootable, 8 of which are open obviously the ones from which the Zombies came from) All grave plots count as having been looted.

She didn't have much time, and she knew it - the other adventurers were probably on their way, and soon they'd get all the best things they could find. She was ready to defend her new greatsword, but at the same time she needed backup, given how recently she'd arrived.

Tasting the scent of two other people incoming, she reared up to full height and looked around. "Finders keepers!" she announced to the room at large, drawing out her s's only slightly. "If anyone wants the other greatsword, now's the time to speak up!"

... begins to try again. Davug sets aside the leather armor, noting that he should give it to one of the zombies just in case, then slings his sword across his back and attaches his Mace to his belt. He goes over to loot the bodies. Virro commands one of the zombies to stand at the Southern and Eastern doors each, hoping they'll be able to serve as some form of guard.

((Thanks for the warning. Davug will pull out both weapons at once, but he doesn't need them now, and holding on to them while searching might actually make it harder.))

((Such tools exist, but you're looking in entirely the wrong room for them. It'd be better if you just tried to rez the Zombies. Also Davug can dual wield, there is no inherent disadvantage for doing so, you just lose the ability to carry a shield.))

Virro: (8) You manage to successfully use your Necromantic heritage to bring Zombie 2 under your control, however you feel that what is left of its mind is resisting you and you fear you shall not be able to control it forever, and once it does escape your control you will not be able to try and take control of it again.

Evard: ()

Uriel: (10) You loot two of the graves, Besides the remains of two elves in both of them you find a pair of Clubs(+2) and two sets of Leather Armour(+2). Swinging one of the clubs to test it out, you accidentally hit the odd-coloured part of the Southern wall of Room 4 and watch in surprise as the illusion collapses, the corridor continues South for a small bit before stopping at a door with the number 10 on it.

Keegra: (10) Despite how much you want to loot the bodies, there is still a zombie next to you, You decide to smash it to death quickly and THEN loot the bodies. (Fight!: Keegra gets (20 + 4Dam = 24) vs Zombie 2 gets (11 + 6 + 2Arm = 19) Keegra does 5 Damage, Zombie 2 dies) Quickly stomping the Zombie into the dirt (literally) you set about looting, picking up a nice number of teeth (11) from the dead Zombies. Leaning down to loot the now-deceased Zombie, you take it's Leather Armour(+2) and its Club(+2) before noticing its belt, unstrapping it from around its waist and picking it up you feel the magic coming from it. Putting it on you discover it is a Belt of Monk Training(+1Dam when unarmed), normally used by novice monk's who are training to make their fists the deadly force that yours are.

Xiv'riit: (11) Noticing Keegra's continued assault on the Zombie you try to use your healing prowess to aid her. Your magic almost seems to be expecting this and another powerful burst of healing magic goes through the area, affecting those in the starting room, the Orc barracks and the Zombie cemetery as well as the corridor that links the three. (Everyone in the area gains 4 Health, apart from Undead who lose 4 Health, this health can go beyond a persons normal max health.)

Kali ()

Yeleni: ()

Priya: () Having heard of the group of adventurers planning to conquer the Bore-Hole and beat Paarnax, you headed out from your homeland to join them. Unfortunately you arrive after they had set out and you have always been behind until now. Entering into the starting room, you barely notice the members of the party still in the room, or the fact that the door behind you has slammed shut and seemingly melded back into the wall again. Scampering down the corridor you find yourself in front of Room 4.

Orc Bodyguard (9) Having not been given an order you continue to watch the Half-Orc at work.

Zombie Orc Bodyguard: (8) Shaben waits for its Masters orders.

Room 4: Where once 8 Zombies waited to attack adventurers, now all have fallen prey to a Shardmind and a Half-Orc. The two Zombies killed outright by Xiv'riit's blast of healing magic are now nothing but dust, however the other six still lay on the ground, able to potentially be resurrected. The room itself has three other exits, two on the right hand, West wall, one noticeably nearer than the other, the other exit door is in the East wall two thirds of the way down the room. Where the far wall used to change colour has now been revealed as a secret passageway leading to a door to the South..

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 26/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 25/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 16/12

Loot in Room 4: [Leather Armour(Light +2), Club(+2)] Zombie 1, [Zombies 2, 3 and 7 have nothing on them], [Hide Armour(Light, +1)] Zombie 4, [Scale Mail(Mail. +3), Greatsword(+2)] Zombie 8. (12 graves which may be lootable, 8 of which are open obviously the ones from which the Zombies came from) Grave plots 9 and 10 have not been looted, 11 and 12 have.

She had been hoping to join in on this adventure the moment she heard of what was to come, but a lot of preparations and even more bureacracy had delayed her for far too long. She had a lot of ground to cover before even thinking of jumping into what she figured would be a climactic final boss battle.

Her tail curled around the staff of her weapon as she regarded the bodies littering the area. Would they attack her? Did anyone else in this dungeon have the power to resurrect the lifeless corpses? She couldn't tell. She was ready to battle if she had to, but at least there was more than one exit route, and she could easily fight her way through any attempt to block it off.

Thinking nothing of it, Priya tasted the air around her, and decided to head for the secret passageway as soon as she looted this room. Besides, if someone had accessed it recently, their scent trail must still be fresh. With that in mind, she made a beeline for the greatsword - after all, there's no such thing as being too armed...

He pauses, then says, "I suppose it was to be expected. Very well. I shall begin raising those in the graves." He moves to do so. Meanwhile, Davug begins searching the room and empty graves for necromantic tools Virro might find useful. Failing that, he will look for armor Virro can use. Shaban stands in a corner and looks at the wall at Virro's command. Perhaps it was a bad zombie?

[Virro begins working on raising other zombies. Davug loots the graves, and Shaban stares at a wall.]

"Keegra also find belt. Keegra keep belt." Keegra made sure the belt was secure around her waist before setting the leather armor and club on the ground. She tucked the teeth trophies safely away in her furs and went to the eastern door, tapping her foot impatiently. "Small-man and rock-men and squid-one coming?

Virro: (7) Concentrating on your magic you are able to draw the lifeforce of the dead Orc back into its body. Unfortunately not everything worked as planned as your new Undead Orc Bodyguard seems to have lost quite a few grey cells and is now unable to use any weapon effectively. Also, you know that as an undead he is not able to get any of the skills Orcs normally get. Gained Undead Orc Bodyguard.

Evard: ()

Uriel: (7) You find a pair of bagpipes and go and pick them up, someone obviously thought that with the awful noise they made they were a weapon. Unfortunately, if anything playing the bagpipes is more likely to get you attacked by enemies, not less (they know if you're playing the bagpipes you can't defend yourself as well). Gained Bagpipes (-1 Cir in combat when equipped).

Keegra: (10 - 3Inj =7) Letting out a roar you charge into the group of zombies, the first to feel your wrath isn't armed and only wears some rags on his back.

Xiv'riit (11) Noticing Keegra still limping slightly as she charged into the zombies, you focus your healing magics and let them loose. Not only do you heal Keegra's ankle just before she starts fighting, you also let loose a slightly uncontrolled burst of healing magic that spreads out around you. You feel stronger and you are sure Keegra and the Orc Bodyguard are feeling better as well. As most people know, what is good for the living is not good for the undead and your erratic burst of magic damages them all, killing two outright, and letting Keegra finish off two more. (Zombies 2-8 lose 8 Health, Keegra, Orc Bodyguard, Xiv'riit gain 8 Health, all injuries cured before battle.)

Kali ()

Yeleni: ()

Priya: () Having heard of the group of adventurers planning to conquer the Bore-Hole and beat Paarnax, you headed out from your homeland to join them. Unfortunately you arrive after they had set out and you have always been behind until now. Entering into the starting room, you barely notice the members of the party still in the room, or the fact that the door behind you has slammed shut and seemingly melded back into the wall again. Scampering down the corridor you find yourself in front of Room 4.

Orc Bodyguard (6) You make it to the door, but seeing the Half-Orc taking on the zombie quite capably by herself you decide to stop and stare, I mean watch her.

Zombie Orc Bodyguard: (7) Shaben successfully gets up this time.

Zombie 2: (4) Noticing the Half-Orc tear through its fellow zombies with the aid of magic, Zombie 2 stands still in fright. Hoping to be mistaken for anything but a Zombie.

Zombie 8: (7) Zombie 8 decides the best things to do is to attack. And with Keegra being the only viabe target, it decides that to try and gett revenge for its comrades.

Room 4: Where once 8 Zombies waited to attack adventurers, now all bar one had fallen prey to a Shardmind and a Half-Orc. The two Zombies killed outright by Xiv'riit's blast of healing magic are now nothing but dust, however the other five still lay on the ground, able to potentially be resurrected. The room itself has three other exits, two on the right hand, West wall, one noticeably nearer than the other, the other exit door is in the East wall two thirds of the way down the room. The far wall changes colour for a little bit roughly opposite the door you entered through.

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 22/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 21/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 12/12

Magnificent- a kind of chain reaction. . . Noting the effect of its magic on the undead creatures, Xiv'riit ran to the nearest zombie and laid its hands on it. "Xiv'riit is thinking you look decrepit, friend. Allow it to help."

"This is why I prefer living soldiers," he remarks. "They are so much less prone to error and far more durable... most of the time." He strides into the other room and begins attempting to bring the zombie under his spell, and Davug stands by, ready to intercept and destroy the zombie should it attack the Elf.

((Sorry I haven't updated this in almost a week now. I honestly forgot about it on Tuesday and then I've been ill since Wednesday (and busy since Thursday, which isn't a nice mix). Round 9 WILL begin 48 hours after this goes out, and I will try my damned best to keep this up (although things may get a bit iffy around Christmas, we'll see). Anyway, onto the dice rolling.))

Virro: (10) You start your well practiced speech on the good points of joining up with you and your group. Even without your bodyguard's sword at his neck, you see that the second Orc is truly listening to your speech and is nodding (as much as it can) along to your points. In fact, you've managed to somehow hire yourself a second Orc bodyguard! Gained Orc Bodyguard 2. (you can give them names you know, just don't get too attached to them).

Evard: ()

Uriel: (3) You manage to get yourself ready for anything. You just forgot that you were planning to go to the door Keegra had been holding shut before you got yourself ready for anything. On the plus side you manage to get what you thought was the Studded Leather Armour on. Turns out it was just some quite Sturdy Robes, but you are confused about how you could not tell the two apart.

Keegra: (9 - 3Inj +1Cir = 7) You manage to limp down the corridor to the door and brace yourself in such a way that the door should remain shut.

Orc Bodyguard: (8) At Virro's command you stand over your fellow Orc and manage to look really threatening, holding your blade just over the other Orc's neck. (-1 Cir for Orc 2 this turn)

Orc Bodyguard 2: (7 - 6Inj -1 Cir = 0) Convinced by Virro to become his bodyguard, despite your injuries you start to get up, thinking that everything is OK know. Unfortunately that is the last thought that enters your brain as you manage to kill yourself on your fellow Orc's blade that was still right above your neck. On the plus side you gain a Darwin Award posthumously. Lose -22 Health, Dead.

Room 4: (11) With Keegra now firmly holding the door closed, the occupants of Room 4 do not realise that getting out of their room through the door to the northern corridor has now become that much harder. But that does not stop them from trying. One is lucky enough and manages to knock a hole in the door, unfortunately it loses its head over this fact (quite literally).

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Bloody Ankle (-3 Inj 1 Turns Remaining), Health 18/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 13/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 12/12

Virro files away this information, then says, "Nevertheless, this is not a complete loss. I do try to have a second plan ready, just in case the first goes sour." He pulls out a variety of tools from his belt and exchanges his black gloves for a set of dark red ones. He begins attempting to resurrect the fallen Orc. The living Orc decides his time would be better spent helping his new allies, and turns to walk through the door and begin fighting the undead. "Davug!" Virro calls after him. "If you would be so kind, try not to end the undead unless it's necessary. I believe I can use them once I'm done here." Davug nods and proceeds to the other room, ready to fight.

[Virro attempts to resurrect the Orc on the ground, Davug (A.K.A. Orc Bodyguard, then Orc Bodyguard 1, then just Orc Bodyguard again,) goes to the other room to fight the zombies. I think it's zombies. He tries to incapacitate rather than completely destroy, but if it comes down to him or the zombie, it's the zombie that's gonna die.]

"Zombies!" she shouted. "Zombies in other room! Keegra is opening door!" She glanced at the other members of her party, saw the second orc decapitate himself, and facepalmed. "Keegra opening door now!"

Blood pumping with anticipation and adrenaline, she wrenched the door open and threw herself at the nearest (un)alive zombie.

Virro: (7) Waiting at, not guarding the door you are fully ready to let the Orc hear the power of your voice. Unfortunately for you (and no matter how well you roll) the Orc can't hear your voice yet.

Evard: (8) You move into position and continue to admire Keegra's muscles, Readying up to attack the Orc you are fully prepared to leap into action (+1 Cir next round)

Uriel: (5) You find a piece of armour that certainly makes you look good, even if it isn't as well armoured as perhaps you'd like it to be. Gained Leather Armour(+1)

Keegra: (9) You brace yourself and manage to hold the door closed, ready to push back against any attempt to open it. When the time is right you manage to pull the door open and send Orc 2 sprawling on the floor (-2 Cir), in a position almost anyone could take advantage of.

Xiv'riit: (2) Still tired from your earlier battle you try to heal Keegra as best you can. However you manage to muddle your actions up, kicking the sword (rather hard) at Keegra and trying to heal Virro's new Orc Bodyguard instead. Given Keegra's tendency to not wear anything armoured, and your own bad luck, it perhaps should not be surprising that the sword manages to hit Keegra in the ankle, causing an injury (-3 Inj 2 Turns Remaining). Your attempts to heal the Orc Bodyguard don't succeed either and instead you (somehow) manage to transfer the damage done to your body (that has not been healed) to the Orc Bodyguard in return for the damage done to him (Xiv'riit -7 Health, Orc Bodyguard +7 Health)

Kali: (8) Like the Tako on the other side of the door you are fully ready for the Orc that is trying to get in (and will probably continue to try until Keegra gives in). Conscious of the proximity of your allies you have chosen to use a normal shot from your sling. (+1 Cir next round)

Yeleni: Still in shock you don't move a muscle.

Orc Bodyguard: (10) Thanking the Shardmind who partially healed him, the Orc Bodyguard picks up the sword now near Keegra's bloody ankle, licking the blood from it, the Orc seems to be slightly healthier strangely. (+4 Health)

Orc 2: (8 - 2Cir -4 Inj = 2) When Keegra unexpectedly opened the door Orc 2 flew through and accidentally landed on its Mace, Damaging itself and causing it to lose 9 Health. In landing on its own Mace it also manages to break the weapon so completely it cannot be used again. In addition to this, the fall also injures the Orc, causing it to suffer from a bad injury (-2 Inj, 3 Turns Remaining).

Room 4: (4) Whatever occupies Room 4 continues to try and beat down the door between it and the corridor to no avail.

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Bloody Ankle (-3 Inj 2 Turns Remaining), Health 18/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 13/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), (+1 Cir next round), Health 12/12

((Why take out your Mace? You're a Slugger, you fight better unarmed (+2 Cir when unarmed vs +1 Dam from the Mace).))

((I've also realized I made a mistake as I forgot you are a Natural Psion and so can't wear Light Armour. I will edit my post later (going Christmas shopping now) to give you an appropriate piece of Clothing instead. Sorry about any confusion caused on my end.))

He prepares to decapitate the other if need be. Virro then begins to attempt to persuade this new Orc to join their cause, using his bodyguard's sword at the newcomer's neck as one of the numerous reasons why it would be advantageous to him to join their side.

Virro: (7) You manage to pick the tea up, pour a cup for Uriel and give it to him. Making sure he is comfortable and able to drink the tea, you go to check on your Orc bodyguard.

Evard: You don't move, remaining in a good position to flank anything coming through the doorway, your nose starts to twitch at the cheesy smell coming from below however.

Uriel: (7) You manage to drink the cup of tea Virro gave you, (6) You feel slightly better and slightly more rejuvenated but that is it. Unfortunately there is no tea left in the pot. Lost item Tea.

Keegra: (10) You manage to shut the door successfully and are able to find the perfect brace position to hold to make sure you won't let the door open, no matter what. You are so successful you manage to remember this position for the future. Gained Brace (+1 Cir when holding a door open or shut and when being pushing).

Xiv'riit: (9 - 2inj = 7) You are successfully able to heal yourself of your injuries.

Kali: You don't move from your position, fortunately on the right side of the doorway.

Yeleni: Still in shock you don't move a muscle.

Orc Bodyguard: (4) You search for a suitable weapon, but don't actually pick one up.

Orc 2: (12) The second Orc charges the now shut door. Unfortunately for it, despite it's fantastic charge, Keegra manages to hold the door shut, her perfect braced position helping her. Even more unfortunately for the Orc, during it's charge it smashed its head into the door, buckling the wood on the other side. This gives it a really bad concussion (-4 Inj, 2 turns remaining)

Room 4: (3) The bashing against the door still continues, pounding like a drum.

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 18/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Longsword(+1) Armour - , Other - , Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 20/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 12/12

Two rounds, in fact. She was nervous. Her daggers had done little to halt the Orc's charge. However, she wasn't done yet; a kill would certainly improve her standing in Keegra's eyes. So she prepared. She noticed Keegra bracing against the door and took up a position on the hinge side, as if the door did burst open she would be hidden from the other Orc's view. A knife or two in the neck would probably be helpful for the group's goals.

And it wasn't just an excuse to look at the way Keegra's shoulder muscles moved as she held the door shut. Why would you even think that?

The Elf shook his head and gestured to the sword on the ground. "Not yet," he said. "We need every fighter we have right now. We may air our grievances once we have defeated the foes at hand, and believe me, I have some of my own I will be releasing." He shot an irritated look at the Shardmind. The Orc grumbled and cast a glare at the Shardmind, but decided to listen to the Elf. He knelt and picked up the sword, ready to do battle to defend the Elf. Said Elf was thinking carefully. "That sounded like a rather hard knock," he said to himself. "I believe... yes, I believe I may be able to do so twice. Bloodfist, would you mind stepping away from the door?"

[Orc Bodyguard grabs Longsword and stands next to Virro, ready to protect him from any attackers. Virro prepares to attempt to enthrall the Orc on the other side of the door as soon as he enters, and wonders if this counts a guarding, therefore giving him his bonus.]

Virro: (8) Looking around on the weapon racks, you see a nicely crafted shortbow, picking it up you also select a quiver from another rack nearby that contains 38 arrows. Confident with your new weapon you turn your attention back to the rest of the room. Gained Shortbow(+2), Quiver(38 arrows).

Evard: ()

Uriel: (11 +1Cir = 12) Kneeling down, you inspect your fellow Shardmind's wounds, studying them you think you know how to heal them, and so without hesitating you do. However the strain upon both you and Xiv'riit is great, and leaves you both tired and exhausted. Xiv'riit gains 10 Health, Xiv'riit gains Tired (-2 Inj, 2 turns remaining, counts from next turn onwards), Uriel gains Exhausted (Can't do anything next turn)

Keegra: (7) Standing down you strain your hearing as you listen out for any more Orcs. You think you hear the sound of another Orc moving about in the room at the end of the corridor, but you're not sure if that Orc is the only one or if there are more around. As you try to listen closer, the door halfway down the corridor seems to shake with repeated thuds as if something is trying to shove the door open.

Xiv'riit: (3) Still tired from your battering, and noticing Uriel heading over to try and help you, you stay where you are, although you do succeed in picking up the Orc's longsword. Gained Longsword(+1)

Kali: (9) Skipping past the Orc you position yourself in the doorway leading to the corridor, with your keen Halfling senses you notice movement in the room that the Orc came from, and can only sense a single Orc remaining in that room.

Yeleni: Still in shock you don't move a muscle.

Orc Bodyguard: You stand stock still, not knowing quite what the person who hired you was on about, you responded with a series of grunts and groans, but seeing as he hasn't asked you to do anything yet, you assume what you're doing is good enough.

Room 2: (7) A single entity makes itself known at the entrance to the Eastern room, a second Orc. Seeing it's fellow Orc standing there and not fighting the adventurers it is not sure what to do and so continues to stand in the doorway

Room 4: (6) There is a muffled moan as the door to the room halfway down the corridor once again goes thud as something hits it from the other side.

Keegra: Weapons - , Armour - , Other - Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 18/22

Xiv'riit: Weapons – Spork(+3), Longsword(+1) Armour - , Other - Tired (-2 Inj, 2 turns remaining, counts from next turn onwards), Ring of Thur ('Rub thrice and drop it' and a mysterious stranger may arrive to help you for a turn, One use only), Health 20/28

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 12/12

Finally, they split up. Virro goes to bring Uriel some tea, and says, "Thank you for helping Xiv'riit. It was a truly selfless act." Meanwhile, the Orc rummages through the weapons racks, trying to find a weapon to replace the one that was taken from him.

((Whilst the combat will appear to go sequentially dependent on the characters position in the order of things, so long as Orc 1 has health we will assume for this (and all) combats that they are actually happening simultaneously))

Virro: (10 - 4Cir = 6) Approaching the Orc, you use your skill with words to try and enthrall him onto your side (20). You succeed in making him believe that, not only is your side in the right but that he is actually your personally bodyguard. Unfortunately your fellow adventurers ignore your pleas for them to calm down and not fight the Orc and so you watch as all your work may be for nothing. Gained (if he survives this round) Orc Bodyguard.

((P.S you can try and enthrall anybody who isn't a PC))

Evard: (6 + 3Cir = 9) You are able to successfully flank the Orc and make use of your natural instinct to backstab any enemy you see. You do so well at the charge you are able to put some of your momentum into hitting the Orc harder than normal (+1 Damage this Round)

Uriel: (7) You succeed in stepping up to the Orc and get ready to protect your fellow Shardmind from its attacks. Deciding to forgo your mace this time, you use the abilities you gained when you trained as a Brawler to your advantage.

Keegra: (8 - 1Inj = 7) You succeed in getting up and charging into the fray, noticing others charging in alongside you makes you angry. You are the Vanguard, you should charge in alone, this anger helps focus you and clear the headache bought on by your concussion.

Xiv'riit: (3) as badly wounded as you are, there is no way you can do anything but back up and take a breather, angry at the Orc and whichever divine force put you in its path in the first place.

Kali: (11) Your mantra as you look through the weapon racks seems to be twisted by magic itself as you feel drawn towards one particular sling. Holding it you recognise it as the Deer Shot, a weapon created by a particularly sadistic Halfling Ranger. Every so often instead of the pebble that you load the sling up with, the sling will fire a full size, live, Deer at the target at the same speed the stone would have come out of. Happy with your acquisition you prepare to help your allies in the battle. Gained Deer Shot(+3Dam, Deer Fling)

Yeleni: Surprised at the sudden combat you stand around, unable to move or do anything to help your team mates.

Orc 1: (6) Excited to be in such a large combat you yell something back down the hall before continuing to fight.

Combat: (Orc 1 vs Uriel. Orc 1 gets 2 (2 + 1Dam - 1Cir) vs Uriel gets 14 (7 + 5 + 2Arm) Orc 1 loses 4 Health) In his (futile) attempt to get at the Shardmind he had attacked rather than the one who was now in his way, Orc 1 decide to put his head down and charge. That was his first mistake. Unlike the Shardmind he originally attack, this one was made of crystal and so a headfirst charge alongside a waving sword, doesn't work that well against it, in fact it is highly likely the Orc suffered some kind of damage at least to his skull (good thing he is from now on enthralled to follow someone else's orders, huh?). In the midst of this the Orc also manage to drop his sword on the floor. Leaving it for anyone to pick up.

Kali: Weapons - Deer Shot(+3, Deer Fling), Armour - Leather Armour(+1), Other - Deer Fling (Once per room, you may fling a Deer instead of a stone at an enemy. This does +1D8 damage, and the difference between the offence and defence scores (either way) is taken as damage by the Deer. If it survives this it stays around as a permanent companion following your orders), Health 12/12

Kali held up the Deer Shot, grinning maniacally. She spun towards the marauding Orc, readying a shot. "HAVE AT THEE THOU REEKING--um, are we are not attacking him?" Disappointed, Kali lowered her sling. "Oh. Well, then. To the next room, I suppose!" With a nauseating--due to the way it wafted up the scent of her feet--skip in her step, Kali went to the Eastern door, standing behind and slightly to the side of the Orc Bodyguard, ready to shoot down the hall when the chance came.

He speaks quietly to the Orc (who shall remain nameless until he can share his own name with the audience), who growls something in reply. Virro speaks once more, and the Orc growls again. Virro says something more insistently, and the Orc shakes his head firmly. The Elf sighs, and backs out of the line of sight of the door, the Orc positioning himself in front of him, readying himself to defend Virro from any danger.

"I shall try to act more quickly next time, Uriel," he says to the green Shardmind. "I am afraid circumstances conspired to prevent my actions from taking place when they should have. I have taken steps to rectify this." He then turns to search the arms racks, hoping this short interlude will give him time to find a weapon, again, preferably a bow, but anything would do at the moment.

If it can't do any good in the fight, it can at least deprive the (possible) future bodyguard of their weapon. While so doing, it crawls into a position far enough from the fight to heal the party members afterward, framing its neck to see the room beyond and report the number of orcs to Virro.

(("Excited to be in such a large combat you yell something back down the hall before continuing to fight." makes me think Keegra wouldn't notice he's been pacified, especially since Virro pacified him earlier but he kept fighting.))

"Another group of 'adventurers' have arrived." The figure that spoke was crouched over a divining pool. watching as it showed the room the party were in. Their figure was hidden by a long hooded robe. "They seem less experienced than the previous ones who came. Shall I release the gas my lord?"

"No, child. Let them come. Although I doubt they will do little more than expand our army of undead, it is still refreshing to see some more morsels come to the challenge."

"Very well, my lord. Is that why you removed their equipment?"

"Yes, my child. They would of been no challenge with the rubbish they had. At the very least now we can enjoy a challenging hunt. Is the pool set up to see each of the rooms?"

"Yes my lord."

"Good."

Virro: (3) You look around for some kind of ranged weapon on the weapon racks. Noticing a few bows you can't quite make up your mind which one you want.

Evard: (11) You find a fine piece of Studded Leather Armour, specifically made for Tako's. You put it on and feel the magic wash over you as you do so. Looking down, you realise you have briefly become invisible, a real boon for a Rogue like you. Gained Studded Leather Armour(+4, Invisibility)

Uriel: (6) Noticing that Evard has picked up the only 2 daggers from the wall, and seeing as you are currently unable to see the Tako to ask if you can borrow one, you instead decide to pick up a small mace that catches your eye. Turning back to your teapot, before you can do anything you notice a droplet of liquid falling from the ceiling and landing in the spout of the teapot, sliding down and mixing with the tea itself. Rushing over you open the lid but cannot smell or see anything wrong with the tea. Gained Mace(+1), Tea

Keegra: (2) Heading over to the Eastern door you trip up and smack your head against the door, even with your thick skull it hurts and the door doesn't come away fine either, not only is it forced open it also has a hole in it where your head hit it. (-1 Injury, 1 round remaining). Unfortunately the noise of your crash seems to reverberate through the dungeon, and the door at the other end of the corridor opens. Out steps an Orc... Gained Concussion (-1 Injury, 1 round remaining)

Xiv'riit: (8) Guarding the Southern doorway, you hear Keegra trip over, and decide to check if she is OK. Moving to the Eastern doorway you Notice she has banged her head and is slowly getting up off the floor. You notice the Orc at the other end of the corridor and step in front of where Keegra is stand, bravely brandishing your Spork and preparing to see what the Orc will do.

Kali: (6) Despite your searching, you can only find one piece of armour than you can wear that is both light for you to use, and small enough for a Halfling. It looks a bit old and as if it's been in a few fights, but it'll still help protect you, and that's what matter, right? Gained Leather Armour(+1)

Yeleni: (5) Searching rather randomly, as if you're not quite sure what you are looking for, you come across a nice Quarterstaff. Pleased with your find, you notice the Orc at the end of the Eastern corridor and wonder if you're going to put your new weapon to use soon. Gained Quarterstaff(+2)

Orc 1: (11 - 1Cir = 10) Noticing the adventurers at the other end of the corridor, Orc 1 grunts something in his native language before charging towards the fallen Keegra. Thankfully Xiv'riit gets in the way before Orc 1 can take on the fallen and concussed Half-Orc

Combat!: (Orc 1 vs Xiv'riit. Orc 1 gets 21 (20 + 1 Damage) vs Xiv'riit gets 7 (2 + 5) Xiv'riit loses 14 Health. As a natural 20, Orc 1 gets a second attack, 11 vs 7, Xiv'riit loses a further 4 Health.)
Many elves and dwarves know how lethal an Orc charge can be, having fought against the barbarians dozens of times in the past. This Orc must either be a veteran of one of those charges, or have been taught exactly how to charge as he smashes into Xivriit, managing to get two attacks off against the Shardmind as it can barely move in terror. The Orc's Longsword gouges a large wound in the Shardmind's side, before the second hit smashes into the Shardmind's shield arm. Things do not look good for the Shardmind, and the Orc knows it.

Kali, practically (literally, to tell the truth) squeaking, hurriedly strapped on her leather armor and began frantically searching for a sling. "I'm coming!" she called, tossing unidentified weapons through the air as she dug through the armaments. "Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear--"

[Kali searches for a trusty Sling, for she is Sling-woman, slinger of slings!]

He waits to see if any others will come to help the Orc, ready to begin attempting to enthrall them the moment he sees them. ((That is how it works, right? I can enthrall people who want to attack my character?))

The tako hurriedly pulled on her new armour, hefted her daggers, and slipped around to try and flank the Orc. Thankfully, it was distracted trying to gut something that didn't have any guts, so it didn't immediately register Evard or her daggers until both were heading towards its back at pace. So incensed was she that she even tried to pummel the Orc with her remaining free tentacle. How dare it seek to attack Keegra when she was knocked prone? How DARE it?

[[ACTION: Evard moves around to flank the Orc from the left and tries to backstab it with her daggers.]]

Xiv'riit snarled, twisting the spork into the orc's windpipe, and pulling the orc tight against it to remove any advantage of the longsword.
Xi was mindless of any pain it might later feel. It was angry, eyes glowing brighter with a kind of glee as it watched the orc suffer.

((As Ixi has pointed out to me, I shouldn't move your characters as much as did with Xiv'riit. I can either redo that part of the Round, keep Xiv'riit at the Souther doorway and having the Orc attack Keegra, or I keep it as it is. Either way I won't move the characters like that again. And I'm sorry for stepping too far. I will admit though, the Orc was the second luckiest person that round and I really didn't expect him to a) actually get to Xiv'riit, or b) Roll a natural 20 and do that much damage.))

((Or it says/implies in the description that the ability must be used (All Wizard, Hedge Mage and Sorceror abilities, Dwarven Improving, Elven Enchanting and Controling Animals, Halfling Tracking, Centaur's Charge! and Healer, Trapmaster, Enthrallment) Or it's a Special Ability (which are normal passive actions), at the moment there are only 2, Invisibility and Tea))

Virro Deverin: (10) You are an excellent door guard. None have stood as vigiliant as you in an age, watching the door in case any evil would dare to walk through. Thankfully none does, and as the time passes you get the feeling that perhaps, none will. After all this is less off an action and more a reaction is it not? Still with your newfound expertise you think you may be even more valuable to the party than before (+1 Cir when guarding a door or doorway).

Evard Black (6) Looking at all the weapons you are almost sad when you realize that you can only see two daggers on the wall. Regardless you pick them up, testing their weight, you are happy with them, but you wonder if you should pick up some armour, or at the very least something to hold the daggers in. (Gained Dagger +2, Dagger +1).

Uriel Seraphim: (8) You set up your tea set expertly, making sure everything is perfectly in place for a nice reinvigorating brew. As the water boils you search the room high and low to see if it has any secrets. Unfortunately for you, this room does not. Still, as they say "a watched pot never boils." And you certainly want yours to boil so you can have some tea.

Keegra Bloodfist: (8) Some of the pieces of armour you recognise, others you don't. The ones you do are made by world-renowned smiths of all races, whoever collected these pieces for you to use certainly didn't discriminate against race when they were picking them. The armour ranges from well made pieces of plate armour, all the way to what looks like normal pieces of clothing, and almost everything in between. Your gut instinct also tells you that not only is not one piece of this armour cursed or meant to harm the party in any way, it is almost as if someone wants the party to have this armour. You assume the same can be said of the weaponry.

Xiv'riit: (9) Looking over the racks of weapons you spot one that looks perfect for you. Reaching up to grab it, you lift it down and look at your wondrous new weapon. It is only as you look at it you see the stylized R engraved into the hilt. This must be the legendary Spork of Rogmarys, the ancient Dwarven hero who was said to be able to beat entire armies by himself, and when the battle was done would sit down, and with this Spork eat an entire pig by himself. What is that you say? It must be hard to eat an entire pig with just a Spork? Well, you my friend obviously did not know Rogmarys. (Gained Spork(+3))

Kali Bunga: (10) Seeing Uriel check the room you are in to no avail, you decide to see if you can use your tracking skill to determine what lays beyond the eastern door. Turning your attention that way you use your highly honed senses to almost completely map the place out. It is an empty corridor, and just like on the map it only has two exits, one at the end of the corridor, and one halfway down on the right. You think you hear voices from behind one of the doors, but you are not sure if you are correct, what language they are speaking in, or which door they come from.

Yeleni: (4) Distracted and disappointed by the fact that nothing happens to either the Half-Orc, the Tako or one of the other Shardminds you assume that both the weapons and the armour are safe to touch. Beyond that you watch the tea set in the middle of the room, wondering why one of your companions has decided to make tea now, of all times.

"Two daggers. Hm. They seem... fairly magical." Evard tossed them from limb to limb, juggling the daggers rather well for someone who wasn't terribly experienced at fighting on dry land. "Though that might just be the One and Two inscribed on the blades. A shame there wasn't another. Now I just need some equipment - my own weapon oils will only stretch so far, for one."

Evard padded off, oddly silent on the stone floor save for the occasional schlup as her suckers kept her upright. Her plan was to search through the rest of the racks and find some armour made for tako, or at least something a bit nicer than her rather dowdy travelling clothes.

Virro begins to search the room for a ranged weapon of some sort, preferably a bow, while saying, "I believe we should be wary of staying here too long. This room and its resources may be setting us up for some kind of trap."

"The map appears to be correct, my fellow adventurers," she announces to the room. "I can hear voices behind one of the doors marked on the map, but I cannot say which, or what the voices may be saying." She considered the room they were in, and decided that her sling alone would not be enough; she wanted a bit of armor.

((Although you could try and create armour out of weapons, it made need a few difficult dice rolls and may be a bit uncomfortable, and may poke you from time to time, but it could happen. :p I know what you mean. Although, specifying what type of armour you are searching for may be a good idea, otherwise it'll be random and could be a piece of Plate Armour that you can't wear or something like that. EDIT: Just noticed you said 'that you can wear' in your other post. So don't worry about the above for now.))

"You are a group of fresh-faced adventurers, believing you can take on anyone, or anything. You have heard tale of the great Dragon Paarnax and his hoard, hidden amidst the treacherous caverns of the Bore-Hole. Wanting to prove yourselves as true adventurers you have grouped up and set off to kill this dragon and claim his hoard for yourselves. You have heard tales of how large the hoard Paarnax has that it can no longer be contained within his lair alone. Instead he has spread it through out the Bore-Hole, protected by a legion of monsters that swear fealty to the Dragon himself. You have also heard tale of how adventurers before you have fallen not just to this legion of monsters but also to the very caverns themselves, with various chambers seemingly created specifically to trap and kill any who wander into them. Undaunted you have set out, not knowing what you will face but determined you will make it to the bottom and kill the great Dragon Paarnax...

Entering the first chamber, you see a sight that surprises you. Against and on the north wall stands rows upon rows of armour stands and weapon racks, holding almost every type of armour and weapon imaginable. Hearing a slam you notice that the hole in the West Wall that you used as an entrance has now slammed shut, trapping you in the Bore-Hole until you defeat Paarnax, or die trying. Looking down, you see that you have mysteriously been stripped of all your weapons and armour you had before you entered this room. There are two other ways to exit the room, one is the passage way to the South, which you see ends at a door and also has an indentation halfway down on the left, which you assume is another doorway. There is also a door in the Eastern wall that no doubt leads to a passageway beyond.

It is, perhaps, the lone picture frame on the Southern wall that intrigues you the most, and indeed most of you crowd around it. In the picture frame there is a map, supposedly showing the entire dungeon. The room you are in is labeled the 'Starting Room' and there is another chamber in the North-East corner of the map titled 'Paarnax's Lair' your ultimate destination perhaps. Taking a look at the map some of you recognize two of the rooms which are meant to hold treasure, although it is strange that your sources, reliable ones at that, told you that Paarnax had split his hoard into seven pieces, yet including his lair, only three of those places appeared on the map.

It is, of no worry, for surely you will succeed and defeat Paarnax. After all, What Are The Chances Of This Happening Again?"

"We probably shouldn't trust it," Yeleni says. "But I don't see that we've a better choice. With that in mind..." She raises a somewhat pointy finger to touch the northmost corridor. "I propose we be methodical about this. We take the dead ends in teams, so that a room-wiping trap doesn't take us all down, and gather what we can. Then we make our final assault together."

A pause, then, "Someone go and touch that armor. If it kills you, I'll try and put you back together." She sounds rather unconcerned about the possibility.

"Split up? Never good idea. Split up, weaker team. Should stick together. Just send one into room first in case of trap." She looked at the rows of armor and weapons and snorted derisively. "Think stick to left hand side. Always left. Orc use when fighting in kobold lair."

((Explore, examine, investigate as much as you like. I will say that none of the armour or weapons are cursed or in any way meant to do bad things to any character. But be warned that, especially with bad luck, accidents can happen.))

"Miss Keegra, I believe we discussed this last night. You will not eat the dead unless there are no necromancers in the party who would seek to use them. Furthermore," and here he paused to pull a sheet of paper out of his pocket that had Storme Hawk's reply about the supply situation on it, "As shown on this paper, the DM says we have enough supplies, therefore, we do."

((And even if you didn't you'd probably be able to scrounge up enough in most of the rooms you go into anyway. I'm not going to go into the mechanics of food and drink etc. so just assume you have enough.))

"Minimize time, you say? Many things, splitting up will do. Saving time will not be one of them. Accurate, the map may be, though in two dimensions, many things in the third may be hidden. Poor map making skills aside, this map is an excellent starting point. To check its accuracy, we may follow it. Need not go far. Keegra a good point makes regardless. Stay in one direction, one direction to go back," Xiv'riit said, gesturing with his palms.

"Then, know we if the map is accurate."

((I'd like to have Xiv'riit form the facets of his chest crystals into a facsimile of the map, if I may. Could he also extrude it, using the presented image as a top down view?))

"I apologize for my lateness to this discussion. My author was sleeping, which meant I could not reply as I wished to. Now, it appears we have enough supplies to last us this entire journey, according to the DM, so I say we head East and travel down that series of corridors and rooms as far as we can go, and, given that the file for the map is called 'Public Map', I suspect there may be a number of private ones that will expand upon our current map, and we may find some on the way. Do any object?"

"I assume the South Western most room is our only path towards the dragon, we should visit that room first and weigh our options on how to get across that before we do anything else," he paused. "We should also see if we can find an alternate path towards the Dragon's lair. I propose digging through that small outcropping at the end of the hallway leading out of that door." He points to the eastern door. "We would, of course, need some way to bore through the wall, and I don't believe any among us are of a people well known for digging."

"But would the serpent not expect us to come from the pre-built entrance? To come in where the beast would not expect us too would give us an advantage in the fight." He pointed to the blue line. "We should cross this river with extreme caution. The path following it is much less maze like then the path before it. For all we know it could be a gauntlet of enemies. I'd say we take it slowly, have Miss Kali check each and every room before we continue, especially the room holding our goal."

"Terribly sorry!" she piped. "My author was decorating. I certainly will be able to check each room for us before we go in, Virro. Terribly easy, as a Tracker. Tell me which room to check, and I shall do so."

Evard seemed to appear next to Bloodfist, her tentacular form not quite close enough to impose on anyone's personal space, no matter how much she would have liked it. "If nothing else, I don't have a lot else I can do. And, and if we are to fight, we shouldn't just rely on Miss Bloodfist to do it all - which is not to say that she is unskilled in any sense! Rather, um, I should say that there are beings that might escape her notice and could benefit from a shiv in the back. Or... three."

The Tako edged back nervously, as evidenced by the tremble in her tentacles. And then she said, in a much quieter voice, "Damn it, the first thing you say to her is a screwup. Stupid girl. Bad octomapus. Bad."

It's a little-known fact that the indigenous Tako language is composed of light displays and colour changes in the skin and tentacles. When they appear to land-dweller eyes to be blushing furiously, that is basically... well, I cannot in good conscience say what it means on a family-friendly forum, nor can I direct you to the hentai that would explain it in almost excessive detail.

Noticing the blush, she raised an eyebrow, knowing too well what it meant. Still, she knelt and put a hand on Evard's shoulder, deciding it would be better to pretend she didn't. "Not need be sorry," she said gently. "All can do is be better. Do best we can, never need be ashamed. And you not need be ashamed, squid-one."

The tako tried desperately to make her brain work while Keegra was that close to her oh sweet heavenly Rl'yeh. "My, um, my friends call me Evard. Well, they mostly call me [succession of blinking lights and quite a lot of mauve], but that's because I haven't really made a lot of friends on the surface yet. Um. Yeah."

"I've got your back." For some reason, the tako sounded more confident than before. "I, I might not be as strong as you, or have the muscles that you do, but I'm quiet and I'm sneaky and I know where to put a dagger to kill things. Had to learn back home. It, it was that or wind up on some fisherman's plate. Apparently we taste good with ketchand that was probably a really dumb thing to say."

((So normally I would roll it, not you. What I was expecting was more along the lines of:

Action: Kali uses her tracking skill to see what is behind the Eastern Door

I then roll, work out how successful the action was and potentially tell you a little about what you're going to face in there.

For example, with a 3 I'd say that you tried to work out what was beyond the next door, but your senses were blocked by the door itself. On the plus side the door is made of a nice oak, slathered with fire-resistant enchantments and it smelt nice when you were close to it.))

"If map right, go east first. Stay on left. See every room there but one. Fight dragon. Come back, get last room, straight path to exit." She huffed again and bared her fangs. "Rock-man supposed to be smart. Rock-man not so smart as says."

((But that map will be in most rooms (because even the denizens of the dungeon get lost from time to time). Besides, that probably falls under a free action, so you can do it, you don't have to ask me))

(Note that nothing besides Race, Class and Health are necessary, but they are nice to have)

Name:

Gender:

Race:
- (Power 1)
- (Power 2)

Class:
- (Power 1)

Health:

Anything Else: (Completely optional)

Example App:

Name: Fely Hefelt

Gender: Male

Race: Elf
- Arcane Archer
- Beast-master

Class: Hunter
- Bowman

Health: 7 (1+6)

Anything Else: Likes Anagrams

Example Combat Situation

Fely is in a room (shock, horror!) with an Orc named Bob. Fely being the Elf he is, is equipped with a Longbow(+2), 30 arrows and some Studded Leather Armour(Light, +2). Bob meanwhile has a nice Club(+1). Fely, being the PC in this case, makes the first move by firing an arrow at Bob. Fely rolls a 10 on his D20 to attack, he gets +3 Damage for being a Bowman, and +2 Damage from his Longbow, meaning he has an Attack Roll of 15. Bob rolls a 14 on his D20 to defend, and as an Orc has +6 Natural Armour, this means Bob's Defence Roll is 20. As Fely's roll is greater than half Bob's Defence roll (but not greater than Bob's Defence Roll) nothing happens. Bob now decides to charge towards Fely, rolls an 8 on 2D6 and so succeeds, and surprises Fely with his turn of agility (-1 Cir for Fely's next attack). The attack continues...

Example Exploration Situation

Fely has now defeated Bob and decides to loot the room. He automatically get's Bob's Club(+1) and then rolls a 6 on the exploration table. Fely finds some semi-decent food Bob was looking forward to, but that's about it.

"Well, I suppose I'm not busy at the moment. But, on the other hand, I did have a little proposition... Oh, you say Virro's here, do you? I guess I could play with him again. Alright, why don't we have at it?"

Race: "Centaur, of course. Otherwise, the name wouldn't fit! Now, let's see... I suppose I'll take Healer and Natural Hedge Make - Cleric." That comes with an Armor restriction. "I know. I suppose, if I arrive with Plate, I'll just have to... take it off, you'd say." What. "Moving on... for now."

Anything Else: A tease. "Oooh, so you want me to tease you now? I can do that..." This is exactly what I mean. Please make her stop. Virro, help me. "I have not the slightest idea what you mean. Ah, hello, Centorea. It has been a while, hasn't it?" "Ever so long, like some other things." No, no, no, this is a kid-friendly- "I do not believe you will be able to stop her." "Could you ever do it?" "Not without a spell." "Oh, there were some other things that worked. You know, like that one time-" CUT!

Anything Else: Priya is more snakelike than other lizardmen, having a relatively long neck, short but strong arms, and a serpentine lower half with vestigial back legs; she has to rear up, cobra-style, to "stand" at eye-level to people. Priya can subdue her enemies via constriction and a powerful bite, though as a Weapons Master, her preferred weapon is a monk's spade with both blades honed to razor-sharp edges; given her short arm-reach, she often wields it using her muscular, prehensile tail.

Anything Else: Kali is plucky, resilient, and has horrible, horrible foot odor. Seriously, it's bad. She never sees (or smells, rather) what anyone is talking about when they mention it, and thus has no reason to fix a problem she doesn't know she has.

She also really likes shooting stuff. A lot. It's a bit frightening, honestly.

I think there may be a room in the dungeon that will help with that foot odour problem. Otherwise if there were a clean freak or a monster with a sensitive nose, that might warrant a negative Cir for them...

Anything Else: An amorphous psionite formed within the lattices of the Lazarus Scar. The facets which form Xiv'riit's current matrix coalesced centuries ago- quite how old is irrelevant (and unclear), though it has been obviously been alive for a very long time.

Xi is rather eccentric despite its age. It alters its habit, or morphology, depending on how it wishes to present itself, becoming short and squat to act unassuming, or tall and thin to intimidate. Every action, no matter how strange, has a purpose.

I'll be starting the first round in about 9/10 hours after I've had some sleep. I'll let it run until either everyone has posted or for 36 hours, whichever is shorter, subsequent rounds will probably last 24 hours.

If we don't have anyone by, say this time tomorrow I will start it regardless (latecomers are more than welcome) and I will use a filler character whose app will be below. If someone wants to take over as the filler, that's fine by me, likewise if we get over 6 characters I'll remove the filler from the RP.

Anything Else: Uriel is a man of few words. He is a man you can depend on to give words of encouragement or host a tea party for every single member of the party, even if it seems he travels light. He is also an expert in the field of Martial Artistry, his own defensive skill allowing him to appear to have more health than he actually has... We think.

That's the beauty of taking Tentacle Tangle. Against the many, many humanoid enemies in these dungeons - two arms, two legs, size class Medium, and so on - it actually balances out! It only becomes a problem when facing something like, say, a Dragon, and if I have the full attention of a Dragon when I'm only wearing light armour, well, I've got bigger problems. =]

If you have any questions, reply to this post with them and I'll try to answer them as quickly as possible.

Now, for the general running of this RP. This RP will work in 'Rounds', these Rounds will generally last 24 hours (although if everyone has posted before then I'll move the Round on in advance). Each Round you are required to leave at least 1 Reply in the relevant area stating your action for this Round, talking and generally interacting with other PC's and Friendly NPC's is a free action, you don't need to state you're doing it, just do it (and who knows they may respond in kind).

If you are exploring, or looking for treasure tell me what you are looking for, so I can then (hopefully) give it to you if the Dice Gods allow it. Most enemies will drop loot and I will let you know what they've dropped when they die/are erased from existence.

Don't come to this if you expect it to be really serious a) we're the PPC, b) this is me. It's going to be slightly wacky and not very serious. The Fourth Wall may be broken a couple of times and various references to various games/stuff may be included. You have been warned.

If you've managed to get this far down, well done (doubly so if you've read all the other beginning posts). Now, onto some actually game-y bits. This will probably be repeated when I start the first Round, but listen to the tale. Your tale...

"You are a group of fresh-faced adventurers, believing you can take on anyone, or anything. You have heard tale of the great Dragon Paarnax and his hoard, hidden amidst the treacherous caverns of the Bore-Hole. Wanting to prove yourselves as true adventurers you have grouped up and set off to kill this dragon and claim his hoard for yourselves. You have heard tales of how large the hoard Paarnax has that it can no longer be contained within his lair alone. Instead he has spread it through out the Bore-Hole, protected by a legion of monsters that swear fealty to the Dragon himself. You have also heard tale of how adventurers before you have fallen not just to this legion of monsters but also to the very caverns themselves, with various chambers seemingly created specifically to trap and kill any who wander into them. Undaunted you have set out, not knowing what you will face but determined you will make it to the bottom and kill the great Dragon Paarnax..."

I know we've discussed it before a bit briefly. But when I said I don't mind a bit of Fourth Wall breaking, I did mean a bit. To be honest, that point has now past, and it is getting on my nerves, so please: No Fourth Wall Breaking. For now at least, I may get a bit more lenient later on. This doesn't mean 'Stop having fun' or 'You must take this 100% seriously' I'm just asking for people to tone it down a little in certain areas.

Oooh! Oooh! Mr. Storme Hawk! Mr. Storme Hawk! Pick me! Pick me! Oh, you're picking me? Alright, then. Ahem. Two questions: Firstly, if a woman takes the Knight class, does the Man of Honor skill become Woman of Honor, with adjustments to dealing with men, and secondly, for stuff like the Psion's Eldritch Presence, if I'm, say, an Elven Psion with Enchanter and Eldritch Presence, do I get the bonus? Finally, do we only get two race abilities, or the full set, including the extra class ability?

Honestly, I hadn't thought of the first instance arising, so I'm going to say yes, yes those changes do apply (thanks). In the Second instance I would also say yes, because how I worded didn't say 'allied' and seeing as you'll always be in the same room as yourself.

One thing I will say is that Paarnax is a male Dragon, and I think you'll want all the bonuses you can get against him.

Unless Paarnax attempts to squash or eat your character, his physical attacks will count as if they are blades. His fire breath will essentially be like an independent homicidal Fire Mage, so watch out for that. If he tries to eat you AND use his Fire Breath... well in that case is anyone up for a BBQ?

Three daggers? That's six extra damage per combat round right there, assuming everything hits. Hopefully I'll be able to get my tentacles on a few improved and/or magic ones. Y'know, just to increase my DPS a bit. =]

Please Note: For the majority of things I (The DM/OP/whatever you want to call me) will be doing the rolling. Some things (like Health) you can do the rolling for. Please be honest when you say what you have rolled, I will be and I will try and make sure I'm at least on Discord, if not in a voice channel when I'm doing it.

Modifiers

Cir or Circumstance is when the circumstances the character is in have either a positive or negative affect on what they're trying to do (you can't fight effectively if you're dangling over a pit and holding on with one hand for example). It can also be used as a catch-all modifier for anything that could arise in the RP, if trying to do the impossible, expect a large negative circumstance modifier. A few Circumstance modifiers are permanent whilst the majority will be active for a set number of turns, or until something else happens (in the example above the circumstance negative modifier persists until the character either falls in the pit (they're then not fighting) or until they get out of the pit (no longer dangling over the edge)).

Inj or Injury. Only a negative modifier, Injuries happen in the same kind of way they do IRL. Injuries will wear off after a while to mimic your characters either healing or just getting used to the pain. They can also be healed by certain items, Clerics and potentially by friendly NPC's. Injuries also cover poisons and the like.

Arm or Armour. How much protection you are wearing. There are four types of armour in the RP, Clothing which can naturally confer a +1 bonus max. Light Armour which can naturally confer a +3 bonus max. Mail Armour can naturally confer a +5 bonus max. Heavy Armour can naturally confer a +7 bonus max and Plate Armour can naturally confer a +9 bonus max. Although Class and Race powers can improve these bonuses above their normal maximum. If you pick two different class powers through the use of the Natural Class Race power, then the lowest armour type is the one you are able to equip. Shields will also give an Armour bonus, and can be wielded by any class, although if you have a Shield you can't wield a two handed weapon.

Dam or Damage. The amount of bonus damage you do with a weapon, all weapons will have a set damage bonus they will give you which can then be increased or decreased by your characters powers, and any enchanting or improving of the weapons you may do. Shields can also turn their armor bonus into a damage bonus if you try bash with them. Weapons are either one handed or two handed (you will be told which).

Dice Rolls

Combat

In combat a D20 will be rolled for each character fighting, both PC and NPC. Every PC has a base 'Armour' of 5 (meaning that the dice roll, plus modifiers must be at least 5 to hit), some NPC's will have a higher base Armour, and a couple may have lower. This base armour is then modified by the characters armour score and any circumstance or injury modifiers that may effect the characters defence. The overall armour is then compared against the dice roll which will have also taken into account Damage, Circumstance and Injury modifiers, which forms the overall attack. If the attack is greater than the armour, then the character loses HP equal to the difference, if the attack is equal to, or more than half the armour score, then nothing happens, if the attack score is less than half the armour score, the attacking character's weapon will break (if they are wielding one) or they will either suffer Injury of some kind, or lose HP otherwise. If the attack is over double the armour score, then either a piece of the defending characters armour, or if they have no armour on (or nothing that gives an armour bonus on), the character will suffer another hit at half the original attack score. A Natural 1 will always fail to do damage, and a natural 20 will always do damage AND be treated as if the attack was double the armour score. Fractions will always be rounded UP.

Exploring covers every scenario which is not combat. In this case 2D6 are rolled, then modifiers are added, with the following being the results:

1 or less: Epic failure of Epicness: You fail, so badly in fact that I'm wincing just thinking about it.

2:Epic failure: you fail, badly. Like really badly, so badly in fact I'm surprised you got to here without an accident

3/4:Failure; It didn't work out for you, in fact it didn't do anything.

5/6:Success (barely): Didn't exactly do what you wanted it to, but no bad side effects.

7:Success: Wow it actually worked out for you, did exactly what you wanted it to. no extra's but no bad points either.

8/9:Good Success: It worked slightly better than you thought, and no side effects that may harm you, isn't it just brilliant?

10/11:Brilliant Success: It worked a lot better than you thought it would, perhaps the Gods are smiling on you today.

12 or more:Godly Success: It worked so well it may of worked too well. now that's a problem.

Health.

Every Character has health, the amount depends on your Race. When you reach 0 health, that's it you die, if you do die you are allowed to re-enter with a new character who will be dropped off at the point where your last character died. Necromancers will be allowed to raise any dead PC's and they will re-roll the dice to see how much health they come back with. Do not fear though, for there will be plenty of chances for you to recover health along the way, as well as the fact that some of your fellow party members may be able to heal you. If you are a Thir-Kreen, Elf or Halfling you will start with 1D20 +6 Health, if you are a Tako, Dwarf or Centaur you will start with 1D20 +8 Health, If you are a Shardmind, Half-Orc or Lizardman you will start with 1D20 +10 Health. NPC's will have between D6 and D100 health dependent on their race and when you meet them. (an example of a D100 NPC would be a Dragon, whilst a D6 NPC would be a Wolf).

Races

Dry Skin: Any Liquid heals you either by D6 (if not harmful) or by however much it was meant to damage you by (if it was harmful). Anything Fire or Heat related does double damage.

Tough Scales: +2 armour at all times.

Natural Hunter: If you are not a Hunter, pick one of the Hunter's abilities and take it, if you are a Hunter you get both abilities.

Dwarf

Smith Folk: Can take a turn to Improve a weapon or piece of armour, adding +1 Circumstance onto it. One use per weapon or piece of armour.

Bane of Goblins: Do +2 Damage to all types of Goblins and Orcs, cannot talk with any type of Goblin or Orc, must battle with them.

Natural Fighter: If you are not a Fighter, pick one of the Fighter's abilities and take it, if you are a Fighter you get both abilities.

Elf

Arcane Archer: Can enchant any ranged weapon to fire magical projectiles. 1 turn to enchant weapon, unlimited uses thereafter. Weapons enchanted by an Arcane Archer can only be used by an Elf and/or a Wizard, Sorcerer or Hedge-Mage and give +3 Damage and no longer need ammunition to fire.

Beast-master: +2 Damage against all animals and beasts, can talk to (and thus try to control) animals and beasts in the same room. Talking to animals takes up a turn.

Natural Wizard: If you are not a Wizard, pick one of the Wizard's abilities and take it, if you are a Wizard you get both abilities.

Halfling

Tracker: Can take a turn to try and determine what is in the next room, if successful gain +1 Circumstances in all actions against whatever is in the next room

Sling-man: +2 Damage when using a sling as a ranged weapon, can also use a sling as a melee weapon for +1 Damage. Slings have unlimited ammo. If the target of a Sling-man is not focused on the Sling-man, +1 Circumstance

Natural Thief: If you are not a Thief, pick one of the Thief's abilities and take it, if you are a Thief you get both abilities.

Half-Orc

Bezerker Rage: +2 Damage on first 3 rounds of combat, no negative modifiers for injury during those 3 rounds, can't do anything for the next round afterwards though.

Tough Hide: +1 Armour at all times, injuries heal twice as fast.

Natural Barbarian: If you are not a Barbarian, pick one of the Barbarian's abilities and take it, if you are a Barbarian you get both abilities.

Centaur

Charger: Can Charge into combat, +1 Damage in first round of combat, becomes +2 if you have a lance or a spear (in addition to the damage of lance or spear). can't stop a Charge, so if the enemy dodges you (or dies before you get there) you can either potentially hit either a friendly NPC (or even another character) and do the full amount of damage to them, or you hit a solid object (eg a wall) and you take a hit of 4 Damage (before modifiers).

Healer: May attempt to heal another character, creature or NPC, roll 1D6, on a 1 creature loses 3 HP, on a 2 creature loses 1 HP, on a 3 it does nothing, on a 4 creature gains 1 HP on a 5 creature gains 3 HP and on a 6 creature gains 5 HP, effect is opposite for undead, cannot heal above max health.

Natural Hedge-Mage: If you are not a Hedge Mage, pick one of the Hedge Mage's abilities and take it, if you are a Hedge Mage you get both abilities.

Tako

Many-Handed: Counts as having three hands when it comes to wielding weapons and shields.

Tentacle Tangle: Humanoid enemies have -1 Cir when attacking in melee

Expendable Limbs: +2 Cir when disarming enemy traps or making your own. May take the Trapmaster class characteristic, regardless of class.

Shardmind

Being Of Willpower: +1 Cir when outnumbered. +3 Cir if outnumbered by more than five.

Being Of Crystal: Takes no damage from poison. +2 Armour against sharp weapons, -1 Armour against blunt weapons.

Natural Psion: If you are not a Psion, pick one of the Psion's abilities and take it. If you are a Psion, you get both abilities.

Thri-Kreen

Chitinous Exoskeleton: +1 armour at all times, The heavier the armour, the quicker Injuries heal.

Rending Claws: +1 Damage and -1 to your enemies Armour when unarmed.

Natural Monk: If you are not a Monk, pick one of the Monk's abilities and take it. If you are a Monk, you get both abilities.

Classes

Fighter

Weapons Master: Name one specific type of weapon (one handed axe, short sword etc.), gain +2 Damage when using that type of weapon, -1 Damage when using any other type of weapon.

Dual-Wielder: +1 Damage when Dual wielding, cannot Plate armour.

Barbarian

Woad Warrior: +1 Circumstance in the first round of every combat, enemy has -1 Circumstance when trying to hit you. However you can't wear Light armour or better.

Vanguard: +2 Damage if first person into combat, goes down to +1 Damage if another person enters the combat alongside you. Cannot voluntarily leave a battle. Cannot wear Heavy armour or better.

Knight

Shield wall: +1 Armour for each other player in combat in the room.

Man of Honour: +1 Circumstance when speaking to any female -1 Circumstance when fighting any female. (Swaps genders for females).

Trapmaster: Can try and make traps to kill your enemy with, most will be deadly if made correctly. (Requires a roll, type of trap depends on what materials are around/on you, traps can blow up in your face however, either in the making of them or the setting of them) Setting traps takes an extra turn, but they can be made whenever you wish. Other Players CAN set off traps, even if aware of them (likewise if enemies are aware of them they may be able to avoid them) -1 Damage with all weapons. Cannot wear Mail armour or better.

Thief

Stealer of Things: +2 Circumstance when scavenging or looking for things -1 Damage with all weapons. Cannot wear Mail armour or better.

Stealer of People: +2 Circumstance when talking, can enthrall people to fight for you (a failed enthrallment could turn them against you, enthralling takes a turn) -1 Damage with all weapons. Cannot wear Heavy armour or better.

Cleric: Can heal any injuries on any person in the same room as them. Takes a turn, -2 Circumstance on all combat rolls on turn you heal someone. +2 Circumstance if facing any type of undead. Can use Magic Items. Cannot wear Plate armour

Druid: Can control all natural things (although that does not mean they are initially friendly towards the Druid) takes a turn to try and gain control, but thereafter can use natural thing as needed. Can use Magic Items. Cannot wear Heavy armour or better.

Wizard

Enchanter: can 'enchant' add +1 Circumstance to any weapon or armour once per turn (takes the turn) can do this with any weapon or piece of armour in the room. Enchanting lasts for 5 turns. Can use Magical Items. Cannot wear Mail armour or better.

Necromancer: Can revive dead enemies (or players) as thralls (the larger/tougher the enemy (or player) the tougher it is to revive and control). Can try to control undead enemies -1 Circumstance if the enemy/thrall you're trying to control wasn't created/revived by you. Using this takes a turn. Cannot wear Light armour or better, Can use Magical Items.

Sorcerer

Fire Mage: Can control/create Fire. As with all things the more Fire the mage tries to create/control the harder it will be to a) create and then b) control. Doing this take a turn. Cannot wear Light armour or better, Can use Magical Items.

Water Mage: Can control/create Water and Ice. As with all things the more Water/Ice the mage tries to create/control the harder it will be to a) create and then b) control. Doing this take a turn. Cannot wear Light armour or better, Can use Magical Items.

Psion

Fate Seer: -1 Cir for all enemies in the same room as you, unless they are in combat. +1 Cir for allies in combat in the same room as you. Cannot wear Light armour or better. Can use Magical Items.

Eldritch Presence: +1 Damage for each allied magic user in the room, +2 Cir whenever a magic user/Elf is trying to use their abilities in the same room as you. (Magic Users are Hedge Mages, Wizards, Sorcerors and Shamans, only the Arcane Archer Elven ability is affected) Cannot wear Light Armour or better. Can use Magical Items.

Brawler

Slugger: +2 Cir when fighting unarmed. +1 additional Damage while unarmed for each point of Armour you have, ignoring shields. Cannot wear Mail armour or better

Dirty Fighter: Enemies have -2 Cir when in melee range of you. Do 1D6 extra damage when entering combat if your target was fighting someone else in the previous round. Cannot wear Heavy armour or better.

Chitinous Exoskeleton: +1 Armour at all times. May wear Armour from one tier above their Class restrictions, where relevant. (For example, a Thri-Kreen Brawler with the Slugger trait would be able to wear Mail Armour, but not Heavy Armour or above.)

Natural Monk: If you are not a Monk, pick one of the Monk's abilities and take it. If you are a Monk, you get both abilities.

Fungoid (Mushroom-people)

Collector: Has +2 Armour against all sources of damage except Fire. You gain the Shield Wall class trait, regardless of whether or not your character is a Knight.

Watcher: May take a turn to attempt to either control or improve a single object made of wood or similar organic materials in the room, made on a DC of the DM's discretion. May not be used in combat.

Decayer: Do +1 Damage to a target for every unarmed attack you made on it in the last three turns. -2 Armour in all situations.

Nehekharan (Dead-people)

Tomb King: +2 Damage when wielding two-handed weapons of any kind. +2 Cir when talking to commoners and merchants, -2 Cir when talking to nobles and similar elites.

Mortuary Cultist: +1 Cir, Armour, and Damage when fighting Undead of any kind, with a further +2 to all of the above against Vampires. You gain the Necromancer class trait, regardless of whether or not you are a Wizard.

My Will Be Done!: All allies in the room (NB: This does not include yourself) may Charge, regardless of whether or not they are Centaurs. If they are Centaurs, they may stop their Charge at will rather than take damage or hit an ally.

Freelance: +3 Damage when using spears and/or lances, -2 Damage from all other weapons. Injuries heal faster the heavier Armour tier you wear.

Monk

Martial Artist: May make two additional unarmed attacks per round OR make their weapon deal +1D3 extra damage this round. May not use sharp weapons, but blunt weapons gain +1 Cir. Cannot wear Light Armour or better.

Ninja: Enemies have -3 Cir when attacking this character at range, while you gain +2 Cir and +2 Damage using throwing weapons. Your throwing weapons do not require ammunition. Cannot wear Mail Armour or better.

Shaman

Witch Doctor: Enemies have -2 Cir when attempting to use Magic Items and/or spells. Allies, including yourself, gain +1 Cir and +2 Armour if they are holding a Magic Item. Cannot use Mail Armour or better.

Medicine Man: Can create/control Ectoplasm in the same way that Sorcerors can Fire or Ice. Works in the same way; however, allies and enemies alike suffer -1 Cir when fighting while Ectoplasm is being used. +3 Cir when looting a room for healing items. Cannot wear Light Armour or better.

Once again however I think some of them are too OP for this RP, and other need tweaking so that they can fit. I can see a definite power creep between my original races and classes and the races and classes you proposed last time and again between your first set of ideas and this your second. So let's begin.

Thri-Kreen (or the Mantis Men)

Chitinous Exoskeleton I'd like to change, mainly because I gave the classes their armour restrictions for a reason and would rather there wasn't a way around said restriction. I'll take the +1 armour, and take the second part of the Freelance Ability from the Merc, (The heavier the armour, the quicker the Injury heals) and use that as the new Chitinous Exoskeleton

Rending Claws, oh Rending Claws how OP thou could be. Using two fists (which could count as dual wielding) would mean a total of +6 to your attack rolls, which when combined with, say the Brawler and either of the Thri-Kreen's unadusted abilities would make the character way too OP. Instead I'm going to change it to +1 Damage and -1 to your enemies Armour when unarmed.

Natural Monk will be fine once I've gone through Monk.

Fungoid

Collector, nice idea, but giving the character +2 armour AND then a free class ability all at once is too much I think. Instead if I was to add the Fungoid's in, I'd remove their ability to get Shield Wall this this ability, which then makes Collector inferior to Tough Scales...

Watcher, is just an inferior version of Druid, I see no real reason to include it.

Decayer, once again dealing with unarmed attacks, I'm assuming the -2 armour is to the enemy, and not to you. Either way I'm not too sure on this ability, and given the other abilities the Fungoid has, and the host of other armour bonuses various races have, I'm going to say I'm not going to use the Fungoid's.

The Necrons, because let's be honest they're basically Tomb Kings from Warhammer Fantasy

Tomb King (Ability): This one confuses me, it's name and what it does don't really match up at all. And let's move on to what it does do. +2 Damage when wielding 2 handed weapon, OK, that's nice, but then the other two parts of its ability won't really come into play in this RP, the last one almost definitely won't, so with the only downside being negligible I'd have to turn this ability down. If this RP has more talking and wider vareity of people to talk to I would consider it.

Mortuary Cultist: Another one of those gives a bonus AND then gives a class ability, I liked Extendable Limbs for the Tako because the bonus wasn't too much, and it kinda fitted. Here we have essentially a +2 on Attack and Defence against Undead, which becomes +6 on Attack and Defence against Vampires and then the Necromancy ability as well. I think that re-jigging it so that the ability changed it to +2 (instead of adding +2) to the Armour and Damage against Vampires, making it +3 on Attack and Defence (Keeping the Cir bonus the same), and removing the Necromancy ability would work.

My Will Be Done!, is a no. The reason is because whilst I don't mind racial abilities giving limited access to class abilities, I don't want racial abilities giving access to other racial abilities. As MWBD! is, it could be said to completely invalidate th Centaur's Charge!, giving them the ability to always have the other two of their racial abilities at no extra cost.

Given that two of the Dead-People's abilities won't work in this RP, I'm going to say no to them as a race as well.

Now onto Classes

Mercenary.

Doppelsoldner, My problem with this ability is that it gives +2 on Attack and +3 on Defence with no real negative to balance it out. Whilst the Bowman will at times struggle to stay out of close combat, there is no reason for the Doppelsoldner to even try and go for ranged combat. If this was to work, I would change the bonuses to +2 Dam, +1 Arm on 2 handed weapons, -1 Damage when wielding one handed weapons.

Freelance: As you can probably assume from earlier, I've decided to remove the second part of the Freelancer's ability from them. My one problem with Freelance is the potential to combo it up with a Charging Centaur and get a +5 Damage on the first round of combat, or combo it up with a Dwarven Weapon Master for a permanent +5 Damage bonus on top of whatever else the spear/lance may give you. My problem is is that I can't quite work out how to nerf it enough to avoid it being too OP, but at the same time still making it viable. As such, and with my problems with Doppelsoldner I'm going to deny the Mercenary class.

Monk

With the Mantis Men nerfed I'm no longer quite as scared of the potential of the Monk as i was. However I still think it needs changing.

Martial Artist: I've been thinking and am probably going to remove the OR condition by removing the second part of it, I also think the second sentence needs to go. Instead having Martial Artist will give 1 unarmed attack per round (if the character is unarmed) and all unarmed attacks will do +2 Damage. However I am going to change the Brawler's Slugger ability down to +2 Cir when fighting unarmed.

Ninja: I personally see two class abilities trying to masquerade as one here. My choices for this ability originally looked like this: either enemies have -3 Cir when attacking the Character at range OR +2 Damage from Thrown Weapons and have unlimited ammo. The second one I would eliminate for RPing reasons, the Ninja is not magical, so how does he have an unending supply of throwing weapons? Enchanted bows fire magic arrows, that's OK, mysterious always having throwing weapons? Not so much IMO. So, I decided to mix the two up, the new Ninja, gives enemies a -1 Cir when attacking at range, and a +2 Damage on Thrown Weapons. And, yes as I've included the Mantis Men, I'll be including Monks.

Shaman

In some ways I like the Shaman, in other ways I feel like both his abilities are trying to gain too much at once, like they could be split up and used to create 2 classes not 1.

Medicine Man: Yes I know I'm going in a different order, there is a reason for this though. First up Ectoplasm, I don't think is going to work in this, I mean I can't visualize how it will work, and is it really worth summoning an ally in if it's going to give everyone else a negative modifier? I don't know, not really. Secondly, Healing Items were, for the most part, not really going to be in the RP apart from in a few select places where they would be specifically mentioned, so I'm not sure how relevant the second part of Medicine man would be. So I'm going to say no to the Medicine Man ability.

Witch Doctor: Now this makes up for it. Splitting Witch Doctor into 2 abilities (Maybe Witch Doctor and Spirit Guide, I'll work on the name) And splitting it equally so one deal with -2 Cir to enemies using magic/magic items in the same room and the other gives a bonus to allies with magic items, works. I think the Latter ability will be restricted to Light armour or clothing, whilst the former will have access to Mail armour as well.

That takes the total up to 9 Races and 13 Classes, which I think is enough for now .So I will be closing applications for new Races and Classes for the time being.